(Kinda old, just been busy and forgot to update here. This is from July)
GOOD NEWS: I had an MRI on Friday the 3rd to see how my body was responding to my MS medication. On the following Monday we found out that my MRI was stable. Meaning I had no new or active lesions and in fact a few lesions had gotten smaller. This means that the medication is doing its job. It won’t cure my MS but it slows the progression of it down.
BAD NEWS: Darren had a big 4th of July double header race consisting of a 30 lap main followed by a 50 lap main. We had a great start to the night and the car was on rails. Darren qualified 5th, won the fast dash and started 9th in the first main. Just prior to the start of the main, the track had had a motor cross race for intermission which kicked up tons of rocks and dirt from the infield onto the high groove of the track. We went green for about 12 laps until the first caution. On the restart Darren was starting 5th row outside. Normally Darren loves the outside lane but not tonight. He had just previously stated over the radio that the outside lane was like driving on marbles and there was no traction. The drivers are coming through turns 3 and 4 on the restart and as soon as the green flag drops, Darren’s car goes into the turn 4 wall, all the way down the front stretch. He makes another lap so we can view the damage from the back straightaway to see if its still raceable. When we see that theres just been too much damage to the car, he pulls off the track. At this time, we are thinking we can either try and fix it before the 2ndmain, or hopefully have enough time to pull the second car out of the trailer to try and make up some ground from the back. We get back to the pit and it’s silent. Which is pretty normal when we have an event like what just happened, but tonightwas different. No one was racing to get the second car out of the trailer. Everyone was just kind of standing around. Then I noticed while the crew was standing in the trailer talking, Darren had snuck off to the car. He grabbed his helmet and I watched him check it out and turn it all over. He was clearly looking for something. It was at that moment I realized he had hit his head. He then came up to me and asked me a question. I replied and asked him a question back. He looked at me, shook his head and asked me “Wait, what were we talking about?” Little did we know that the race he just raced and hit the wall in was the last race he would race. I am still kicking myself in the butt for not having the ambulance come and look at him. But we just didn’t really realize it was that bad. I was able to finally talk him into going to the ER last Thursday. They did a CT scan and determined it was a concussion. This is his 3rdone in 3 years just from racing alone. He is still feeling the effects of the hit with dizziness, headaches, and light sensitivity, plus occasional back spasms. We decided that we can't chance another one. He was ok, for the most part, after this one, although he's still feeling the effects. We don’t know if he gets another one if there will be more damage, but it's not a chance we're willing to take. We've been talking a lot about it these last couple weeks and decided this is what's best for our family. We appreciate all your thoughts and prayers. If you are interested in any of our cars, parts, or rig, please contact Randy at 970-590-8121
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