From The Driver's Perspective

Hey Guys!

So, as you are probably well aware of, I was in a pretty bad accident on the 8th of October. First, I think I should premise the setting before I get into the meat of the story.

We had never raced at this track before. Fayette County Speedway in Brownstown, IL is a big 1/4 mile clay oval. VERY wide. You could fit 3 cars side by side easily, maybe even 4. It was a special race for our class, paying $2,000 to the winner (we normally race for somewhere between $200-$300). This particular event was a 2-day show with qualifications (which our class does not normally do) and heat races being held on Friday night and the consolations and main event being featured on Saturday.

Friday night didn't exactly go that well. We qualified in separate groups instead of one big group. We qualified with 7 or 8 other cars, the same cars we would race against in our heat races. The fastest in each group would start first, second fastest start second, and so on. I qualified 7th in my group(terrible). Started 7th in my heat race and made my way up to a 5th place finish but, unfortunately for me, they only transferred the top-4cars to the main event so I was going to have to run one of the consolation races on Saturday. When I got the car back to the pits after the heat race, I found that the front nut on the left front upper control arm was gone, causing the left front wheel to move around on me, and also causing the upper control arm to hit the steering shaft,making the car incredibly hard to control. Got it fixed and we were ready to go for Saturday night.

Saturday rolls around and I was feeling pretty good. Saw the starting lineup for the consolation race I was in and I felt even better. Starting P1; on the pole. I knew they were only taking the top-2 cars out of each of the consolation races(there were 2) so I had my work cut out for me but I was feeling pretty confident.

The race started and I jumped out to an early lead.Race was 10 laps in distance and about halfway through it, there was a caution. I had led the entire thing up to this point and hadn't had areal challenge yet but with the caution bunching the field back up, I knew I was gonna have to get up on the wheel.

This is where things got bad. Everything happened so fast, I only remember certain parts of the actual accident. Here is an eyewitness account of what I was told had happened:

"You were leading the race. Caution flew,all bunched up, green flag, you got in a little hot in 1 and 2, you slid up coming out of 2, now you're in middle to high groove, car pulled to the inside of you, you got loose,hit the car inside of you which forced you back up the track hitting the nose of your car in the wall then spun you around with your driver's door facing the oncoming traffic, the idiots in the back weren't paying attention and hit you dead in the door....the car that should have hit you missed you! The one who hit you was in turn 2 when you were already stopped.."

I remember losing control. I remember being pointed towards the wall and I remember being pointed towards the infield. After that, the next thingI know, I'm sitting in the middle of turns 3 and 4 trying to catch my breath, which is hard as hell when you're strapped in a 5-point harness and have a helmet strapped on.

I immediately knew something was wrong as soon as I "came to" (I use this term loosely. I never lost consciousness). My knees were in excruciating pain and so was my left elbow. The track worker took my helmet off and I looked down. My door bars were resting against my seat and my cockpit area down by my feet had been compressed to a 6" tunnel, a far cry from the normal 2 feet that it should be. my left side head support (mounted to my seat) was now sticking outside of my window. The EMTs rushed over and immediately, the talk of air support started. Apparently, they took one look at where my feet we're and called the helicopter. After telling them that my feet and ankles were fine, the helicopter was called off and they began the extrication. Because my feet were pinned so bad,they had to cut the bars around them to get me out. I had no idea what was wrong with me, but I knew there was something wrong with my left elbow and my knees. I have never had a more intense pain than that night. It was simply awful. Every time the JAWS or the SPREADER broke a bar or weld, I felt it in every part of my body. After about 45 minutes of trying to figure out how exactly to get me out of the car, I told them that I would try and climb out myself, with everyone's assistance.I succeeded in doing so and was immediately put on a backboard. My feet never touched the ground. I did the thumbs up to the crowd and they all cheered (I felt like a total badass at that point) and they loaded me in the ambulance.

They hauled me off the track and did their typical EMT stuff sitting off the track a little before we went to the hospital. My mom rode with me in the ambulance and I made some cracks about putting her to work (she's a med tech and works in the lab of a local hospital). Got to the hospital and they did all the textbook stuff. Went into X-Ray and as they were completed, I heard someone say something about a fracture. Came back and they said i fractured my elbow but they couldn't tell about my knee. In the hour that it took them to get me out of the car and the time it took to get to the hospital, the pain in the left knee had subsided substantially but the pain in the right knee and gotten worse. They told me that they couldn't see anything in my right knee from the X-Ray so they whisked me off to a CAT Scan. Came back and they told me that I had a fracture in my knee and a crap load of fluid buildup in both my elbow and knee.After more waiting around (you know how hospitals are) they finally let me leave. I left the hospital knowing that I broke my knee and elbow and not really knowing a whole lot else.

I was scheduled an appointment with an orthopedic doctor for that Monday and he scheduledMRIs for both my elbow and knee. I hate MRIs. I'm claustrophobic so those 20 minutes each seemed like an eternity.

Went back to the doctor that Friday and this is when it hit. He told me that I had a fracture in the radius of my left elbow, right by the joint. He also told me that I fractured the femur (the strongest bone in the body) on the inside of my knee. Then he said what I had been dreading. There could be possible tears in the ACL, MCL, and Meniscus. I could deal with the broken bone but blowing my knee out is an entirely different story. He couldn't tell for sure because the swelling was still pretty big. So, as of right now, I have 4 more weeks in a knee brace that allows absolutely no movement at all. At the end of those 4 weeks, I have no idea what will happen.

With all that being said, I amVERY lucky to still be alive. Numerous people have told me that. Every time I look at the car sitting in the driveway, I wonder how I made it out of that scrap of twisted metal alive.

If I could instill anything on anyone wanting to get involved in auto racing, in any form, it is this:

If you cannot afford to have proper safety equipment, stay off of the track. Safety should be at the forefront of your mind before anything else.

Well, that's my story. Sorry if I rambled on at any point or gave too many details but I figured that if I am going to tell the story, the entire thing needs to be told. I will try and keep you guys updated on my status as time goes on.