There they were, two Alabama racers strapped on stretchers in an ambulance heading to the hospital.
NEAL SIMS
News staff writer
Improbable as it seems, with 36 entries in the field for last weekend's NASCAR trucks race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the two Alabama racers collided. So Tina Gordon of Cedar Bluff and Rick Crawford of Mobile, both with broken bones, shared an ambulance ride to Atlanta Medical Center.
"He was holding my hand all the way to the hospital," Gordon said, laughing as Crawford joked about having their first date. "He was cutting up and talking, trying to get our minds off the pain. If I had to ride with anybody to the hospital in an ambulance, I'm glad it was Rick Crawford."
The "Alabama hit parade," as Gordon's husband Gary called it, came on lap 45 of the EasyCare 200 on Saturday. Gordon's No. 13 truck, with the left front tire apparently going flat, swerved down the backstretch. She almost had it corrected when the collision came.
Crawford was racing near the outside wall, bumper to bumper behind Dennis Setzer. As Setzer checked up, squeezing through the hole between Gordon's truck and the wall, Crawford's view was blocked. Crawford, running around 190 mph, pulled down, and the nose of his No. 14 truck clipped the rear end of Gordon's truck.
As Gordon spun back across the track, Hank Parker Jr. rammed her again. Crawford, knocked senseless, veered into the wall. His truck, with the throttle hung open from the impact, continued around the track until it stopped near the entrance to pit road.
The collision with Gordon knocked the left front wheel of Crawford's truck through the firewall, breaking two bones in his left foot. The lick from Parker broke Gordon's right fibula, the lower bone in her leg.
"I didn't see anybody coming," Gordon said. "I didn't have a clue I was about to be hit. I got hit from the back, then from the side. It dazed me. I couldn't feel my legs from the knees down. They were numb."
Gordon told the rescue workers to let her get out of her truck on her own. "I did," she said. "It took me a second to catch my breath. Then when I took a couple of steps, I felt the popping in my leg. I knew something was broken."
After treatment at the hospital, again sharing an examination room, both drivers were released. Neither required surgery. Gordon was fitted with a soft boot instead of a hard cast. Crawford's foot, with the breaks near his toes, was left unwrapped because of the swelling.
NASCAR officials inspected both trucks and told the race teams the safety features had prevented more serious injuries in such a violent crash. Crawford's truck was taken to NASCAR's Research and Development Center, and the "black box" will be checked to determine the impact of the hit.
With a month-long break in the schedule before the trucks' third race of the season at Martinsville, both drivers plan to be ready to run. Gordon, with deep bruises and a slight concussion, is even planning on a test session before the race on April 17.
Right now, she said, "I'm just laying on the couch and being waited on. I'll be kicking in a few weeks. I'm looking forward to getting back. This is a setback for us, but we still have high expectations."
As for Crawford's resolve to race at Martinsville, when he left the hospital he told a team member, "I still have my right foot, don't I?"
