Sport compact driver Kyle Jenks, aka “Joker Style Kyle,” went for a ride during the feature at Lake View Motor Speedway. It seemed like a never-ending series of rolls on April 1 at the Nichols, South Carolina, dirt track.
“I said, ‘Okay, okay, you can stop now,” Jenks said, referring to his experience inside the car during the crash. “I didn’t know where I was on the track. It was a spin cycle for sure.”
The incident began at the start of the race.
“Everybody was sleeping,” said Jenks, out of Fayetteville, North Carolina. “I started in the back, in the seventh spot. The green flag dropped, they yelled green [on the radio], lights were green, and nobody went. I gassed up and [as I got] into third position, the racer behind me took my right-back quarter from someone taking their car in their left-rear quarter.
“I spun extremely fast and I was upside-down — conscious the entire time. If the car didn’t hit me while I was spinning, I would have probably been out in the woods somewhere. Once I stopped, I could not see because of the dust, but I hit the brake and took the car out of gear.”
Unfortunately, the rolls took a toll on Jenks. After an ambulance on-site evaluated him, he went to McLeod Regional Medical Center’s emergency room. Jenks realized something was wrong when he started slurring his speech. He said that his injuries included a minor concussion, brain swelling, and busted blood vessels in his eye.
Fortunately, though, Jenks took his safety seriously. He sat in an Ultra Shield Race Products full-containment seat paired with ButlerBuilt belts. Jenks wore a Zamp helmet, with a Simpson Hybrid head-and-neck restraint. His Nissan had a roll cage from Wastedmoney Cages.
“I try to look over my car before each race and my equipment,” Jenks said “This is my life and nobody else is going to make sure I stay safe.”
Kyle Jenks pays attention to safety after witnessing several bad wrecks, including that of Mike Bron, who died in 2017 while racing at Dublin Motor Speedway in North Carolina.
As far as the car, Jenks said he could only salvage its engine and transmission. He now looks to build a sport compact out of a Honda he’s had for a while.
“It’s gnarly what can happen on a racetrack,” said Jenks, reminding racers that bad crashes can happen, so you better be prepared.
The Outside Groove contributor from North Carolina grew up in the shop of her racer dad. She started racing V8 stock cars at age 13, competing in the renegades and then moving into the pure stocks.
