The exuberance expressed by Donald McIntosh in victory lane was just as much a release of stress as a celebration of a big win. He literally busted his rear end en route to victory lane at I-75 Raceway, in Sweetwater, Tennessee, for the Southern All Star Racing Series event.
McIntosh won the race with a broken rear end in his car — one that could let go anytime. His Blount Motorsports team had no chance to change it between hot laps and the feature.
“After hot laps, we couldn’t back [the car] into our pit area,” McIntosh, 27, of Dawsonville, Georgia, said. “The car wouldn’t even roll backwards. Either a ring gear bolt came out or the pinion was just worn out. There was no time to change [the rear end]. I figured we’d get three laps in. [Crew chief] David [Bryant] thought it would last 10 laps.”
McIntosh qualified fastest in his time-trial group, which placed him to start on the outside pole. He took the first spot on lap 18 of the 50-lap feature after the leader, David Crabtree, experienced his own mechanical woes, with his Crabtree’s car going up in smoke.
“The broken rear end was in the back of my mind from the start of the race,” said McIntosh. “I didn’t work the tires under caution. I was trying to baby the car throughout the race. Things got hairy in traffic. I figured my laps were numbered.”
For Donald McIntosh, he always relishes the excitement of a win.
“No doubt it was a stressful win, but it is always exciting to win a race,” McIntosh said. “It is not easy to win a super late model race, no matter if it is $1,500 to win or $5,000 to win. Everyone in the field has good stuff and the drivers are so good, so any win is a big win to celebrate as far as I’m concerned.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
