A bad wreck at Bowman Gray Stadium had knocked Justin Cummings unconscious on June 17. Fortunately, he was able to return the following week to race his street stock at the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, paved oval.
The crash occurred in turn four on the white-flag lap while racing for seventh.
“I remember my spotter yelling, ‘Look out! Look out!,’” Cummings, of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said. “I remember the 10 car making contact with Wes Glascoe in the 21 car. That car then turned right in front of me.”
Cummings’ car hit between the front tire and door of Glascoe’s.
“The hit was solid — there was no dissipation of forces,” said Cummings. “I was wide-open on the gas, and it was an instant hard hit. I was knocked out cold and woke up in a cloud of smoke and steam.”
Cummings works for Velocita as a trade show rep and manager of the company’s helmet department. He sat in an ISP full-containment seat, with a Zamp five-point harness. He wore a Zamp helmet and head-and-neck restraint.
“The equipment did a great job in protecting me,” Cummings said. “Without the head-and-neck restraint, things would have been a lot worse. Wes [Glascoe] was at my window checking on me when I woke up. He’s a good buddy. We grew up racing hard against each other. After I regained consciousness, I was able to get out of my car on my own power.”
Cummings said he incurred a mild concussion, sore ribs, sore back, and a dislocated left ring finger.
“My back was sore when I walked across the track to the infield,” said Cummings. “I waved to the crowd. It felt good that everyone was cheering for me.”
His chassis from Hedgecock Racing fared fairly well.
“My car wasn’t damaged too badly after the crash,” Cummings said. “I had to replace my bumper, a spindle, and a shock. The rest of the damage was cosmetic to the hood and fender.”
Justin Cummings got his car back together by the end of the week. Unfortunately, a transmission failure ended his night prematurely after starting the feature on the pole.
“I wouldn’t want to miss a week of racing, even if it means just getting out there for the practice sessions,” said Cummings.
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.
