Rick Crawford driver of the #14 Circle Bar Motel and RV Park Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series spoke out about his accident during the EasyCare Vehicle Service Contracts 200 at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in which he injured his left foot.

Crawford on the events that transpired during his violent wreck at the Atlanta Motor Speedway:  “Well there were three of us racing, Dennis Setzer was ahead of me and Hank Parker Jr. was to the inside and I was taking a real high line around turn two.  I noticed something happened going down the back straightaway and it was a slower truck spinning out of control.  I followed Dennis down the back straightaway and as I peeked out beside him to see where he was going, it was too late.  Tina Gordon’s truck had come back up the race track from where she originally lost control down at the bottom and she let the truck come across the race track there and I had no chance of missing her and I hit her pretty good.

At that time the steering was locked and the brakes were all bashed in because of the tire coming back into the left front area pedal control and the throttle was stuck all at the same time.  I didn’t realize all those things were wrong in a split second.  But as I got closer to the turn four wall I realized the throttle was stuck, there was no brakes and there was no chance of steering.  I braced myself for the turn four wall, hit it and probably lost a little bit of consciousness there, spun down into the infield, had no idea where I was, heard a voice on the radio saying “Why don’t you just shut the switch off,” and I think they might have said it twice.  I shut it off and next thing I remember I got all my safety stuff off and walked to the care ambulance.”

Crawford’s thoughts on how well his safety equipment held up during the accident?  “If you back track things I mean what would have happened to yourself five years ago with no HANS device, no seat stabilizers, no helmet supports, no collapsible steering columns, no foot supports down by where the roll cage is.  What would have happened to you driving the vehicle five years ago?  I probably wouldn’t be here talking about it today with only minor injuries and we’re going to get those taken care of and should return in Martinsville with no problems.  If there was ever a perfect time of year to have an accident like I had, it’s right now.  There’s really no perfect time to have an accident but timing sort of suited this one, but we’ll try not to have anymore.”

Crawford was wearing a full face helmet for only the second time during the Atlanta NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Event and talks about how the helmet may have helped reduce his injuries:  “I’m pleased to be wearing the new Impact helmet that Bill Simpson taylor-made for me, it did its job.  I mean every piece of safety equipment I had on did its job.  I took not one bump, but probably three or four during this impact session that I had.  All the NASCAR safety devices and all the safety devices you can buy to put in place did their job.  A little minor injury to the foot is all I suffered, but at least it wasn’t my gas foot.”