For the first time in seven years, Erik Renninger returned to Grandview Speedway in Bechtelsville, Pennsylvania. In 2015, a wreck in the sportsman class there had severely injured him (pictured).
“Since that day, I always wanted to go back to Grandview Speedway,” said Renninger, 46, of Neshanic Station, New Jersey. “It’s been my goal for seven long years. I just wasn’t ready — not until this weekend.”
Last Saturday, Renninger finally felt comfortable enough to return to the scene of his hardest crash.
That Fateful Night
As Erik Renninger entered turn two, he saw a hole and went for it, going four-wide, with Renninger third from the bottom. The car on the inside pushed into the car next to them, which in turn slid into Renninger’s ride. That impact sent Renninger’s left-rear wheel over the right-rear wheel of the car next to him. His car skated over the wall, which launched his car. Renninger landed tail first.
“I consider this a racing incident,” Renninger said. “It was just four guys trying to take the same spot on the racetrack.”
The accident knocked Renninger out cold. He sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a Simpson harness. He wore a Bell helmet paired with a HANS device.
“Head-and-neck restraints protect you in a head-on collision,” Renninger said. “I went straight up in the air and landed on the car’s left-rear wheel. My head went hard into the back of the seat and my brain kept traveling inside my skull.”
Renninger watched videos of the crash, where he saw a piece of material hit his helmet.
“There was a big mark in the top of my helmet,” said Renninger. “Whether or not it contributed to my injury is a mystery.”
Today, Renninger upgraded to a Bell carbon-fiber helmet for more than just looks.
“I’ve heard from safety experts that a lighter helmet, like the one I bought, would have less impact in a crash,” Renninger said.
Returning from the Crash
The accident left Renninger with lingering injuries.
“I couldn’t remember anything [about the crash],” said Renninger. “I had no balance — I was so dizzy I would fall over. I couldn’t read, and I became irritable. [It put me out] of commission for three months.”
Renninger participated in other contact sports, such as rugby. He said he may have also incurred concussions while playing those activities, but he never was unconscious. Renninger felt that may have contributed to his long recovery.
“It was a hard comeback,” said Renninger, who works in corporate sales for AT&T. “It took more than two years before the doctor cleared me to get back to living the life I had lived.”
Renninger kept one secret from the doctor.
“I didn’t tell the doctor I was going to drive a race car again,” Renninger said. “That probably wouldn’t have gone over well.”
Renninger returned to racing at New Jersey’s New Egypt Speedway in 2020. However, he said he couldn’t bare going back to Grandview Speedway, at least not yet.
“New Egypt Speedway is a wider track than Grandview Speedway, where you have to be constantly up on the wheel,” said Renninger. “It was easier for me to handle in my return to racing. But, Grandview Speedway was still my goal.”
Today
Last weekend, Erik Renninger didn’t make the feature. He finished sixth in the consolation race. However, he hailed the night as a personal comeback victory.
“People ask why would I return to Grandview Speedway, or even continue to race,” Renninger said. “I just love [Grandview Speedway] and everyone is awesome there. I’ve got to be a top-five contender again. I know I can do it.”
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.
