Kenny Gaddis fought the wall and the wall won. The incident occurred on the opening night during the USRA modified feature at Monarch Motor Speedway in Wichita Falls, Texas.
“I just misjudged my entry and got in too hot,” Gaddis said. “The worst part was that I wrecked in front of my son, Sean.”
Gaddis, 55, and his 21-year-old son hail from Longview, Texas, where the family owns a transmission repair business.
“Sean saw me land on all fours and wondered why they had to throw the red,” said Gaddis. “We’ve been racing together for four years and he’s never seen me wreck like this.”
Gaddis emerged from the wreck not injured. He sat in a full-containment seat from Ultra Shield Race Products, with a five-point harness from RaceQuip. He wore a carbon-fiber Zamp Racing helmet, with a neck collar.
“I’m still searching for a comfortable head-and-neck restraint,” Gaddis said. “An old motorcycle injury is irritated by the head-and-neck restraints I have tried.”
The modified from MB Customs incurred damage mostly to its sheet metal as well as the right-front and left-rear suspension components. After Gaddis repairs the car, he plans to travel with his son to USMTS events throughout the middle of the country, as well as others elsewhere. Their schedule includes races as far north as Wisconsin and as far south as Florida.
Back in Texas, the accident changed the perspective Kenny Gaddis had of his competitors and the racing community.
“The one thing I took away from this crash was how many people were concerned about my well-being,” said Gaddis. “The amount of people who reached out was overwhelming. It made me realize that there are a great bunch of people in racing.
“We may argue and fight at times, but at the end of the day, we all care and worry about each other.”
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.
