Modified driver Tom Neubauer (68) spun his car to avoid a crash. Instead, he wound up hitting a rut, flipping, and landing upside-down on top of the car he hoped to miss, the No. 37 of Scott Tubbin. The incident occurred on May 17, during second lap of the feature at Wilmot Raceway in Wisconsin.
“It was surreal,” Neubauer, of Round Lake, Illinois, said. “We were both okay. They hooked my car to the tow truck and gently flipped me back over. I stayed in my car until I was in my pit stall. The ambulance came by to check on me. I was okay.”
Neubauer sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a five-point Hooker harness. He wore a Zamp Racing helmet paired with a Zamp Racing head-and-neck restraint system. He steered a chassis from Simon Brothers.
This season marks Neubauer’s second in modifieds. Prior to that, he raced for 15 years on the drag strips. He participated in the Outlaw 10.5 class. Neubauer said he would frequently exceed 180 mph in that division.
“Dirt modified racing looked interesting and fun,” said Neubauer. “When drag racing got too expensive, I bought a modified, because not only are they cool looking, but fast. Speed has always been an attraction for me.”
The ability to craft your own engine also made the class attractive to Neubauer.
“I have been fascinated and intrigued with engines forever — and that’s why I am in racing,” Neubauer, a maintenance worker for Lake County Public Works in Illinois, said. “I build my own engines.”
Damage from the crash was minimal. Tom Neubauer had to replace the right-front suspension. He returned to the track the following weekend.
“If this crash was to happen, at least there is a photo of it,” Neubauer said. “It was a race to remember.”
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.
