While not specific to Tony Stewart Racing, we believe this story is important because it serves as a reminder of the dangers that racers are subject to, and the fact that most of them have no insurance to help them if needed. We are cross-posting this article on our Stewart-Haas Racing site.
Tulsa, OK — Former World of Outlaws Late Model Series champion Tim McCreadie suffered a back injury in a wild crash Wednesday night during the 23rd annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at Tulsa Expo Raceway.
McCreadie, 34, of Watertown, N.Y.,has a fractured T-3 vertebra and floating bone fragments in his back after flipping over the turn-one fence of the indoor one-fifth-mile dirt track while leading the night’s first ‘A’ qualifier. The rearend of McCreadie’s Midget broke right-of-center as he set the car into the first corner, sending him into a high-flying series of flips that ended with his machine landing upside down on a parked Bobcat vehicle and then falling to the concrete floor on its frame rails.
A winner of the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals in 2006 – the same year he captured the WoO LMS title – McCreadie was driving a Midget from the powerful Wilke-Pak Motorsports stable. His teammates for the event included USAC stars Dave Darland and Jerry Coons Jr. and WoO Sprint Car standout Terry McCarl.
The accident abruptly ended a week that had started well for McCreadie, who was making his fifth appearance at the mid-winter classic. He battled WoO Sprint Car Series veteran Sammy Swindell for the lead in Tuesday night’s Chili Bowl Race of Champions before settling for a third-place finish and he won the third heat race on Wednesday night.
McCreadie was recuperating on Thursday afternoon in a Tulsa hospital. His close friend, USAC’s James Spink, accompanied McCreadie to the hospital and reported that the superstar driver was “extremely sore” but otherwise in good spirits.
A local specialist who examined McCreadie said he did not think the bone fragments are an issue and surgery likely won’t be necessary, but USAC’s Jason Smith contacted Dr. Terry Trammell, the renowned Indianapolis-based Orthopedic Surgeon who has helped many injured drivers over the years, for a second opinion. Trammell was expected to review an MRI of McCreadie’s back and talk with doctors in Tulsa late yesterday afternoon.
McCreadie is expected to make a full recovery, but the length of time he’ll be sidelined from competition is uncertain. He was looking forward to a busy stretch of racing in Georgia and Florida over the coming weeks with his Sweeteners Plus dirt Late Model team, including the Alltel DIRTcar Nationals by UNOH at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Fla., that features UMP DIRTcar Super Late Model events on Feb. 9, 10, 11 and 13 and WoO LMS shows on Feb. 12 and 14.
McCreadie is a fulltime professional short-track racer and has no health insurance, so Spink, Smith and Kevin Miller from USAC have moved quickly to help manage many offers from the racing community to assist with his medical and recovery expenses. Donations can made to the Tim McCreadie Support Fund c/o USAC, 4910 West 16th St., Speedway, IN, 46224. Online donations can also be made at USACRacing.com.
