In our Casa in Casa Grande

  Casa Grande, Arizona, United States
Sunday, November 26, 2006

Left Phoenix International Raceway Monday morning, thankful for the short, 1 hour drive to our next stop in Casa Grande, Arizona. We got the our park, set up the motorhome, and pretty much slept for the next two days - worn out from the after effects of the flu bug we'd been fighting since Friday. On Wednesday, woke up feeling almost normal, and tore into laundry, house cleaning, and too much work in general, which left us feeling kind of lazy and tired again on Thursday!
A fun note - back in North Carolina, early in the spring, I mentioned meeting a gal named Mary Jane in the laundry room there, and we struck up a conversation about racing, which ended up in us meeting up with her and her husband Gordie in late May, up in Rochester, NY, which is their home base. Up in NY, we went to the Rolling Wheels Raceway with them and had a fun evening. Well, of all things, who do I bump into in the Laundry Room this past Wednesday, but Mary Jane?!
Enjoyed sharing our passion for dirt track racing with Mary Jane and Gordie again, when we went to the Central Arizona Raceway's 3-day "Wes Hurst Memorial" dirt track modified race the weekend after Thanksgiving. On Saturday, they brought a friend (named George W. Bush, of all things!) with them, and our Phoenix International Raceway friends Kyle and Leslie (the ones who are getting married this April during Nextel Cup Race week at PIR) also came out for the day.

The"gang" at Central Arizona Raceway

As one of the race cars was coming through turns 3 and 4 during Hot Laps at Central AZ Raceway on the evening after Thanksgiving, the bright setting sun

1 - Sunset at Central Arizona Raceway

evidently prevented him from seeing one of the track officials in front of him. The track official was down on the track for a very long, frightening time, first waiting for an ambulance, and then waiting for a medevac chopper to take him to a hospital.

2 - MedEvac Chopper Lands at C A R

We found out later that all CAT scans were fine, but he had two severe compound leg fractures which would require several surgeries.