The driver of this mod lite, Zack Babcock walked away from this crash last Friday at Brewerton Speedway in New York. Unfortunately, however, the car he’s raced for his entire adult life, and then some, may be done.
The wild accident occurred during the feature.
“I was running the top side, and the hole closed up quicker than I thought it would,” said Babcock, 26, of Canastota, New York. “The guy on the bottom came up the track a little bit and I ran out of room. I had nowhere to go — it was between the car and the wall. I climbed the wall a little bit and went for a ride.
“As soon as the contact occurred, I knew there was no saving it. So, I crossed my arms so that I didn’t hurt my wrist or hands. I watched the whole thing — it’s a feeling of helplessness. You’re out of control, and all you can do is wait for it to be over. It felt like I was in the air forever. When I finally came to a stop, I took a deep breath and realized I was all right.”
Babcock’s car landed on its side, and he exited out the roof hatch. Besides a few minor injuries, he emerged relatively unscathed.
“My neck is a little bit sore — I’m not sure if that’s from whiplash or my helmet hitting the top roll cage bar,” Babcock said. “I got some bruises on my thighs from, I’m assuming, when I went upside down and my thighs hit the steering wheel. Then, I got a couple of bruises on my elbow. It definitely could have been much worse.”
He sat in a Kirkey seat, with headrests, paired with a RacerDirect.net five-point, cam-lock harness. Babcock wore a Pyrotect helmet and a HANS device.
Karl Schartner built the car in 2006 for his son. In 2011, Babcock started driving it and has raced the car ever since. He has three wins on the mod lite, with the last being in 2019. The accident may have ended the car’s long tenure in the sport.
“It needs pretty much everything,” said Babcock. “It needs a full rear clip, and it may need a full front clip as well. If that’s the case, we may look elsewhere [for a new car]. Pretty much everything on the car is junk. We have one shock that wasn’t broken or bent.”
Zack Babcock said his season is done. The car’s future is in question. However, most importantly, Babcock came out of the fray able to race another race when the time comes.
The Outside Groove Executive Editor has covered motorsports since 2000. His many awards include the 2019 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Jim Hunter Writer of the Year and the 2013 Russ Catlin Award for Excellence in Motorsports Journalism.
