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Safety in the spotlight after scary Justin Peck crash | Daily 5-26-2023
On this Friday show we'll get into Justin Peck's scary crash last night and why this should be a wake up call for the industry. We've also got Thursday results, what to watch this weekend, and more. Let's go!
It's Friday, May 26th, I'm Justin Fiedler. This is DIRTRACKR Daily.
Absolutely insane, really nasty wreck at Bridgeport last night at the start of the All Star feature, and that's where we'll start today's show. Last night was the first of four races coming up this weekend for the All Stars, and Freddie Rahmer and Tyler Courtney led the field to green. Things went sideways quick though, and Justin Peck ended up at the center of one of the scarier sprint car crashes we've seen in a while. After it was all said and done, he emerged from the car under his own power, and although he did take a trip to the local hospital, he's since been released according to a statement from Buch Motorsports. The car was absolutely destroyed, and the cage above Peck's head was actually broken from the impacts. The 13 machine started outside row four and ended up being in the wrong place at the wrong time. It looked like maybe Anthony Macri spun the tires hard on the start, as he was sideways out of four. Contact then from Brent Marks behind him sent the 39M up the race track directly into the path of Peck. The contact turned Peck head on into the frontstretch wall right before the flagstand. As his car spun around and turned over, the wing and the top of the cage ended up inside a break in the catchfence. The break is there as a crossover point from the grandstands to the race track. There is also a railing there, which Peck's car contacted. There are photos floating around of that railing now bent way back. His car then pirouetted out into traffic where it was then hit by JJ Hickle's 97 and Domenic Melair's 55 before coming to a stop rightside up. It was the perfect storm of conditions, and the absolute worst place on the front straightaway for Peck's car to end up, and it's honestly a miracle he was not injured or worse. Later, as the wreckage was towed away, we could see the extensive damage to the cage, including the bars over his head broken, and the vertical tubing that is directly in front of the driver broken as well. For anyone that sees the incident and the aftermath, I don't know how you view this as anything but a serious wake up call for the industry. Justin Peck got lucky this time, but that won't always be the case. Tracks and series absolutely must do a better job leading the way on safety improvements, and if there are weird places like this at tracks, you can be sure that at some point a car will find it's way to them. Openings and gaps, blunt corners, weird fencing, all of it must be addressed, and improvements to the cars need to be thought about as well. Racing is dangerous yes, but we can't be okay with what we saw last night. Fans, drivers, crews, series officials, everyone should be upset about this. In his podium interview, Anthony Macri was clearly rattled by what happened, and I'm sure he wasn't the only one. As a sidenote here, I do want to give major kudos to the track workers and series officials that end up as first reponders to these crashes. These guys have absolutely no idea what they are running into, and they never hesitate. I know a lot of these folks have seen some terrible stuff over the years and their jobs are so important in these moments.
I did also want to address the aftermath on social media. The All Star Twitter account posted after the crash that Tyler Ross and Dominic Melair had been DQ'd for getting out of their cars in the moments after the dust was settling, and both were involved in the incident. The responses to the tweet came swift and ugly with folks hammering the series for DQing guys after a crash in this way. The assumption was that they had gotten out of their cars to check on Peck and were then penalized unjustly for it. But in reality, that is not what happened, and I would urge some caution in moments like this. As others pointed out on social media, there are actually New Jersey state laws in regards to what happens at race tracks, and those laws state that drivers are to remain in their cars during incidents. But also, both drivers got out of their cars for other reasons. There wasn't even video evidence of them doing what the Twitter responses assumed they were doing. As I've been told, neither was upset about the DQs, and neither was going to return to the race anyway. All Star officials and safety workers were on the scene very quickly, and the only driver who it sounded like did get out to check on Peck was JJ Hickle, and he was not DQ'd in the aftermath. I know some have since deleted tweets and walked comments back, but it was a nasty situation that could have been avoided with just a little bit of context. Rules exist for a reason, and although we don't want to see anyone hurt after getting out of their cars, series officials are smart enough to understand what's going on. The All Star series director was a racer himself.
Once the race did get going, it was all Tyler Courtney out front. He led all 30 laps to score his fourth win of the year, topping Kyle Reinhardt and Macri. Headed to Williams Grove tonight, Courtney has extended his points lead. Following the Grove tonight, Port Royal is next on Saturday and Sunday for the Bob Weikert Memorial.
Alright, elsewhere last night we had a bunch of other stuff going on. At Lucas Oil Speedway, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series got the Show-Me 100 weekend going. After starting outside front row, it turned into just the night Jonathan Davenport needed. He'd gone four straight races finishing 12th or worse, and last night he led all 45 laps for the win. Ricky Thornton Jr. ran him down late from 10th, but couldn't find a way by. He settled for second with Tyler Bruening third. It was Davenport's second Lucas win of the season, but first since way back on January 30th. I've seen multiple comments on my shows from guys asking what's been up with Davenport, but remember that he's got a new crew chief this season. Jason Durham departed that team after 2022, and it's clearly taking new boss Cory Fostvedt some time to get his arms around their full program. With as good as Hudson O'Neal and RTJ have been lately, Davenport could use some good nights to stay within contact in the standings. Lucas will do it all over again tonight for $6000, and then Saturday is the big $50k to win, 100 lapper.
At Sharon, the World of Outlaws Late Models also kicked off a three race weekend. Chris Madden dominated the 25 lapper, grabbing his first Outlaw win of the year. Bobby Pierce and Mike Marlar ended up second and third. Madden's points lead has now grown to 40 over Ryan Gustin with two more nights at Sharon on tap. It did not turn into a good night for early front runners Gregg Satterlee and Drake Troutman. On the same lap, Troutman made contact with Bobby Pierce and hit the front straightaway wall, breaking suspension and ending his night. Just a few hundred feet later, Satterlee was caught up in a mess between two lap cars and ended up crashed. Those guys had speed though, and can hopefully bounce back tonight.
In Indiana, the USAC sprint cars wrapped up a busy week with their second night at Circle City. Pole sitter Robert Ballou led the first few laps, before Kyle Cummins took over for good on lap four. Justin Grant took some serious shots at Cummins a few different times, but ended up out of the race after jumping the turn two cushion and hitting the wall. Jake Swanson and Brady Bacon rounded out the podium, and as USAC pointed out, those three guys were on the podium all three nights this week in various forms. They all got wins, and all had very good weeks. Cummins continues to lead the points standings headed to Knoxville next, and he's been strong through these opening few months. Ten races, eight top tens, eight top fives, and two wins. His only blemish in a points race was a 20th at Bloomington.
Other Thursday race winners included Ross Bailes with the XR Workin' Man Series at Cherokee. He picked up $10,000, topping Trent Ivey and Jeff Smith. That series is back June 21st at Belleville, Kansas. And at Deer Creek, Rodney Sanders won his first USMTS feature of the season, advancing from a B-Main, and then going 16th to the win. He's now only three points behind Jake O'Neil for the series points lead with two more nights at Deer Creek on tap.
Over the next three days, there is plenty of other dirt racing to check out. The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are at Atomic Speedway in Ohio for two nights. Sheldon Haudenschild was a winner there in 2022, and we'll see if Donny Schatz can keep up his recent run of strong performances. Brad Sweet enters as the points leader. The ASCS has a trio of shows between Lakeside and Lake Ozark. Seth Bergman is the points leader, and Blake Hahn will be in action as will Brian Brown. The Super DIRTcar Series is at Weedsport and Lebanon Valley. We'll see if Mat Williamson can keep up his torrid pace in the big block. There is also a ton of other late model racing, including the Spring Nationals, MARS, Iron-Man and more.
That's it for the show today and for the week. Thanks to everyone who continues to watch and comment, even the trolls.
Hope you guys enjoy the dirt racing weekend out there, we'll see you back here on Monday.