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Del Worsham was released from Pomona Valley Hospital shortly after 7:00 pm on Friday. Though his car was a total wreck after his spectacular and horrifying wreck on Friday, his body came out of the experience in slightly better shape. Worsham suffered a few small lacerations to both shins, caused by the violence of the end-over-end wreck at high speed, but had those either stitched up or bandaged with no ill effects. Slightly more serious were x-rays which revealed a cracked tail bone. Doctors at Pomona Valley informed Worsham he would be able to race with no danger of further injury.
"They basically told me it was up to me, and how I can manage the pain," Worsham said. "It's an injury they really can't treat, you just need to let it heal and you know it's going to hurt for a while. The ER doctor who cared for me was really fantastic, and everyone from the ambulance guys to the people in the emergency room took great care of me and my wife Connie, who was with me. The doctor was explaining what they saw on the x-rays, and he was also pretty interested in what we do and how it all happened. I had the worst view of it of everyone, of course, and I still haven't seen the video, but I think we gave him a pretty good idea of everything that happened. He actually wants to come out to the race on Sunday, so that would be cool.
"I've had a few other bad things happen in my career that I really don't remember much about, but I think I remember all of what happened today. Put it this way, (crew member) Terry Snyder was on the radio as soon as the engine blew up, asking if I was okay, and I clearly remember calling back to him on the radio to say 'No I'm not okay, I can't get to the parachutes.' Right after that, it went into the sand and all hell broke loose. At that point, I just wanted it to end, and once it did the car was actually upright, which kind of surprised me after all the tumbling it did. I looked around, saw I had my arms and legs, and just decided to get out of the car right then."
Worsham returned to the track after being released from the hospital, and has already sat in his back-up car.
"I heard the guys had the blue team's back-up car out as soon as the wreck happened, but my back-up car was down at the shop (in Orange, near Anaheim.) By the time I got back to the track, around 7:15, they were pulling up with the back-up car on a flat-bed trailer, and I've already had a chance to sit in both cars to see which one feels better. One of the first things that happened, though, was that John Force came over with the A&E production crew, who are at this race shooting more episodes for his "Driving Force" show. John was really worried about me, but I told him I was okay and then we shot a scene with me and John talking about the whole deal, looking at the car and the pile of remnants that used to be the red CSK Monte Carlo body. That's a tough way to get on A&E, I'll tell you that.
"My plan now is to see how I feel tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to make a half-track lap at least, just to make sure I'm okay and the back-up car is dialed in. I think I'll be able to do it with no real problems, so I plan on being able to drive. Man, it would be a lousy way to end the season if we qualified No. 1 and we couldn't even race on Sunday. If I'm capable, I'll be driving, and right now I expect to be doing just that."
DEL WORSHAM UPDATE
Del Worsham was released from Pomona Valley Hospital shortly after 7:00 pm on Friday. Though his car was a total wreck after his spectacular and horrifying wreck on Friday, his body came out of the experience in slightly better shape. Worsham suffered a few small lacerations to both shins, caused by the violence of the end-over-end wreck at high speed, but had those either stitched up or bandaged with no ill effects. Slightly more serious were x-rays which revealed a cracked tail bone. Doctors at Pomona Valley informed Worsham he would be able to race with no danger of further injury.
"They basically told me it was up to me, and how I can manage the pain," Worsham said. "It's an injury they really can't treat, you just need to let it heal and you know it's going to hurt for a while. The ER doctor who cared for me was really fantastic, and everyone from the ambulance guys to the people in the emergency room took great care of me and my wife Connie, who was with me. The doctor was explaining what they saw on the x-rays, and he was also pretty interested in what we do and how it all happened. I had the worst view of it of everyone, of course, and I still haven't seen the video, but I think we gave him a pretty good idea of everything that happened. He actually wants to come out to the race on Sunday, so that would be cool.
"I've had a few other bad things happen in my career that I really don't remember much about, but I think I remember all of what happened today. Put it this way, (crew member) Terry Snyder was on the radio as soon as the engine blew up, asking if I was okay, and I clearly remember calling back to him on the radio to say 'No I'm not okay, I can't get to the parachutes.' Right after that, it went into the sand and all hell broke loose. At that point, I just wanted it to end, and once it did the car was actually upright, which kind of surprised me after all the tumbling it did. I looked around, saw I had my arms and legs, and just decided to get out of the car right then."
Worsham returned to the track after being released from the hospital, and has already sat in his back-up car.
"I heard the guys had the blue team's back-up car out as soon as the wreck happened, but my back-up car was down at the shop (in Orange, near Anaheim.) By the time I got back to the track, around 7:15, they were pulling up with the back-up car on a flat-bed trailer, and I've already had a chance to sit in both cars to see which one feels better. One of the first things that happened, though, was that John Force came over with the A&E production crew, who are at this race shooting more episodes for his "Driving Force" show. John was really worried about me, but I told him I was okay and then we shot a scene with me and John talking about the whole deal, looking at the car and the pile of remnants that used to be the red CSK Monte Carlo body. That's a tough way to get on A&E, I'll tell you that.
"My plan now is to see how I feel tomorrow, and hopefully we'll be able to make a half-track lap at least, just to make sure I'm okay and the back-up car is dialed in. I think I'll be able to do it with no real problems, so I plan on being able to drive. Man, it would be a lousy way to end the season if we qualified No. 1 and we couldn't even race on Sunday. If I'm capable, I'll be driving, and right now I expect to be doing just that."
