Forum: Minnesota Dirt Track Racing Forum (go)
Moderators: StanM

I enjoyed my trip Jackson last night and wanted to say thank you to Jon for putting on a great show for everyone. This was my first trip to Jackson in a couple of years and I always run into people I know down there as well as meeting some new friends.

Also, I was wondering if anybody has any word on the condition of Chris Graf driver of the 20g? I visit with Chris whenever I see him. It's always disturbing to see any driver injured but especially so when it's someone you know. Please pass along any information as soon as it becomes available.

Stan Meissner

We went up to the hopital to check on him after the show and he was really sore, they were unable to get the ex-rays they wanted to get so they tranfered him to fairmont for a cat scan. everything looked alright so they released him around 4:30 this morning. I hope he's feeling better soon it always sucks to see a fellow racer get hauled away.

I just got off the phone with Chris and he said he has a compression fracture in one of his vertebrae and he also has a broken sternum best wishes to Chris and get well soon

That's certainly good news.

I was standing on the frontstretch taking photos when the incident developed. My flash only went off for the first shot and it was out of the range of my camera but I kept shooting anyways. That's a habit when something like that happens because you never know what you're going to get. I was able to enhance the images enough in photoshop to see what happened. It appears that the 05 didn't get up to speed and might have brushed the wall coming out of four. In the next image the 05 is completely sideways and Natalie Sather is diving underneath him. The next shot shows the 20g up in the air with the belly of the car facing back towards turn four with the 92 bearing down on him. The final couple of shots show the 87 of Lund flipping and another with several cars in the air. The shot of the 20g in the air and the 92 coming full bore at the bottom of the car is scary to look at because I can picture in my mind how fast this thing happened and the sound when the collided.

I never post photos whenever there is an injury involved but if Chris decides that he wants to see them someday I will send him low resolution computer copies. They're not suitable for printing but you can make out what happened. I'm really glad to hear that he has been released. I hadn't seen the Jackson rescue crew in action but they did a great job and reminded me of the Mid-West Safety team that works the Milwaukee Mile and travels with the IRA Sprints.

Stan Meissner

That's not quite as good as the first report but it's still good news when you consider that it could have been a lot worse. Keep us posted. It's serious whenever the back or neck is involved but from your report I'm guessing it's something that will heal on it's own without surgery. It's difficult for you guys who run locally as a hobby being off work when something like this happens.

Stan Meissner

the 05 car did not get up to speed because he took a right rear to the left front and sent him into the wall, the first shot is the one u need!!

I didn't see what got him into the wall and didn't get the first picture until it all started to happen.

Stan Meissner

P.S. Just to set the record straight I didn't accuse the 05 of anything, just said that my first shot was of the 05 brushing the wall. Obviously if someone brushes the wall coming down for the green it's going to scrub off some speed and stack the field up behind them. I didn't hit the shutter until things started to happen and the field bunched up and things happen so fast that if you ask ten people who saw it you'll probably get 10 different stories. Bottom line was that it was just a racing deal and Chris got the worst of it.

That kind of thing happens all the time where someone gets out of shape but the drivers gather it up and nothing happens. I see cars bumping and banging all the time on the starts up here at Cedar Lake but they're Late Models or Mods and they're a whole lot more forgiving. That's just racing and sometimes, especially with Sprints, things can happen. I've seen Bill Boles win before and I know he's an experienced driver so I hope you guys don't misinterpret what I was trying to say.

Stan Meissner