Last Wednesday, Brandon Azzalina returned to victory lane, with a win in the 600 sprints at Shellhammer Dirt Track in Shoemakersville, Pennsylvania. It came four years after he broke his back in the Atlantic City Indoor Race in New Jersey.
“After the crash, I decided I was done with racing,”. Azzalina, of Saylorsburg, Pennsylvania, said. “I guess racing is always in your blood, if you are a racer. Four weeks ago, I saw a good deal on a race car and got back into racing. I kept telling myself I shouldn’t, but I got the itch.”
Four Years Ago for Brandon Azzalina
The 2018 Atlantic City Indoor Race started with veteran racer Mike Tidabeck getting seriously hurt, incurring head injuries.
“I raced with Mike a few times,” said Azzalina. “When I heard he probably had a traumatic brain injury that day, I never thought about getting hurt myself.”
A day later, Azzalina and Tidabeck were both in the same hospital.
Like Tidabeck, Azzalina drove a TQ midget at Atlantic City. He used a laydown Kirkey seat, with a Crash Pad between his body and the seat.
“In a TQ, you try to sit as low as possible, leaning back with your butt forward,” Azzalina said. “That is the reason I broke my back. I hit the wall and it compressed my spine, breaking three vertebrae.”
During the feature, Azzalina restarted on the outside. When the green flew, the inside car washed up, and Azzalina’s car hopped that car’s tire, with his car hitting the wall head-on.
“I knew instantly that my back was broken,” said Azzalina. “When the track crew got to me, I yelled, ‘Back! Back!’ They replied, ‘You can’t get back into the feature. Your front end is damaged.’”
The crew finally realized what Azzalina was referring to.
“It was the worst pain of my life,” Azzalina said. “I had no feeling in my legs. I grabbed the official’s hand to convey that my back was broken.”
He spent four days in the hospital.
“When I stood up, my head was spinning so bad,” said Azzalina. “The doctors diagnosed a concussion.”
Back in the Saddle
Brandon Azzalina endured six months of wearing a back brace and rehabilitation for his back. Recovery from his concussion took longer.
“I still had headaches almost two years later,” Azzalina said. “I also got migraine headaches — something I never had before.”
Four weeks ago, he steered a race car competitively for the first time since the accident.
“I was excited to race again, but I kept thinking about what I went through,” said Azzalina. “I asked myself, ‘Can I still drive?’ I had to prove to myself that I could drive.”
Now, he’s already got a win under his belt. Don’t think it came easy, though.
“So much changed in the three and a half years since I raced,” said Azzalina. “I had to figure out what everyone was doing to be competitive. After three times out, I figured out the setup and got the car right.”
While Brandon Azzalina finally returned back to racing, expect him to remain outdoors.
“I won’t race indoors anymore,” Azzalina said. “The cars are too fast, the arena is too tight, and there are concrete walls. I’ll be looking forward in running the big shows outside in the coming weeks.”
The Outside Groove Director of Photography 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.
