ENNIS, Texas (October 25, 2008) - Thanks to his Simpson safety equipment, Josh Hernandez walked away from a side-scraping crash in his National Guard '57 Chevy Bel Air tonight with just a couple bumps and a slightly bruised ego.
In his quarterfinal matchup with Clyde Scott in the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals, Hernandez drifted toward the centerline but stayed in his lane to take the win light at the eighth-mile. Then, according to Hernandez, "things got squirrely."
"Right after I crossed the line, I took my foot off the throttle and planned to coast all the way to the top end like I had been doing all weekend. Because I was out of the groove and toward the center, one tire had good traction and the other didn't - which made the car take a hard turn toward the wall.
"I had just enough time to pull the chutes and prepare for the impact, which left me holding the steering wheel broken off in my hands and the car careening toward the other wall with no way to steer. I was thinking, 'this is not a good thing' as I scraped the right wall and slid up the side of the track.
"Once the car came to a stop, the safety guys got me out of the car and checked me out, and with the exception of a couple of bumps, I'm just fine.
"I feel kind of like I did when I was in 11th grade playing varsity football when the linebacker blindsided me. It took me by surprise, because you always think that once the race is over nothing can happen, but that's not the case. Thankfully, this was one of those times when the car just gets scraped up a little, the safety equipment does what it's supposed to, and you walk away," he said.
After suffering a huge upset tire-shaking loss in the first round of the Battle of the Belts championship Friday night at hands of Wes Johnston, Hernandez went on to qualify sixth in the main event with a 3.842/198.64 and defeated Johnston in the grudge match first round, 3.809/198.64 to 3.890/196.07.
"The track and conditions were so amazing, everyone had a hard time getting a handle on things Friday - and we just went out too hard in the Battle for the Belts. It's definitely not what we expected, but we had to keep on working toward winning the event. We knew that was going to be a slug-fest, and it lived up to that for sure.
"Today, Dave and Jim Oddy [crew chiefs] took what we learned last night and really got this hot rod running and we were definitely on a tear," Hernandez said. "It's just too bad we couldn't keep on racing, because I think we had the car to beat.
"As far as the National Guard '57, we'll get it put back together and be ready for next year. As far as me, I'm fine, just a little sore, and I will be able to race this coming weekend in Vegas, no problems," Hernandez said.
Josh Hernandez and Team Rage are sponsored by the National Guard, NGK Spark Plugs, Redline Oil, Permatex Products, VP Racing Fuels, Hoosier Tires, Mechanix Wear, Inter-Linc Mortgage, Victory 1, & Richmond Gears, RedBull Energy Drinks and Safety Kleen.
In his quarterfinal matchup with Clyde Scott in the LenMar Motorsports ADRL World Finals, Hernandez drifted toward the centerline but stayed in his lane to take the win light at the eighth-mile. Then, according to Hernandez, "things got squirrely."
"Right after I crossed the line, I took my foot off the throttle and planned to coast all the way to the top end like I had been doing all weekend. Because I was out of the groove and toward the center, one tire had good traction and the other didn't - which made the car take a hard turn toward the wall.
"I had just enough time to pull the chutes and prepare for the impact, which left me holding the steering wheel broken off in my hands and the car careening toward the other wall with no way to steer. I was thinking, 'this is not a good thing' as I scraped the right wall and slid up the side of the track.
"Once the car came to a stop, the safety guys got me out of the car and checked me out, and with the exception of a couple of bumps, I'm just fine.
"I feel kind of like I did when I was in 11th grade playing varsity football when the linebacker blindsided me. It took me by surprise, because you always think that once the race is over nothing can happen, but that's not the case. Thankfully, this was one of those times when the car just gets scraped up a little, the safety equipment does what it's supposed to, and you walk away," he said.
After suffering a huge upset tire-shaking loss in the first round of the Battle of the Belts championship Friday night at hands of Wes Johnston, Hernandez went on to qualify sixth in the main event with a 3.842/198.64 and defeated Johnston in the grudge match first round, 3.809/198.64 to 3.890/196.07.
"The track and conditions were so amazing, everyone had a hard time getting a handle on things Friday - and we just went out too hard in the Battle for the Belts. It's definitely not what we expected, but we had to keep on working toward winning the event. We knew that was going to be a slug-fest, and it lived up to that for sure.
"Today, Dave and Jim Oddy [crew chiefs] took what we learned last night and really got this hot rod running and we were definitely on a tear," Hernandez said. "It's just too bad we couldn't keep on racing, because I think we had the car to beat.
"As far as the National Guard '57, we'll get it put back together and be ready for next year. As far as me, I'm fine, just a little sore, and I will be able to race this coming weekend in Vegas, no problems," Hernandez said.
Josh Hernandez and Team Rage are sponsored by the National Guard, NGK Spark Plugs, Redline Oil, Permatex Products, VP Racing Fuels, Hoosier Tires, Mechanix Wear, Inter-Linc Mortgage, Victory 1, & Richmond Gears, RedBull Energy Drinks and Safety Kleen.
