Fortunately, Zach Leonhardi emerged without injury from this bad wreck at Dixie Speedway in Woodstock, Georgia. Unfortunately, it destroyed the car and will most likely mark the end to Jim Harrah’s tenure as car owner.
He started the feature in 12th, Leonhardi said a dust cloud impeded his vision coming out of Turn 4.
“There is asphalt at the bottom of the track — it’s usually kept wet, but it was dried out at feature time,” Leonhardi, of Cartersville, Georgia, said. “On a restart, I could not see three feet in front of the car. A car in front of me went low and came up across the track. I hit him and my bumper jammed into the dirt, spinning me sideways.”
Things then took a turn for the worse.
“I got hit by cars who could not see me in time to stop,” said Leonhardi. “The first hit my right-front tire and sent me up in the air onto the front straightaway. The second car hit me in the belly pan. A third car hit me in the belly pan and flipped me over the other way. I landed on all fours.”
His injuries were limited to a “banged-up” wrist and a sore neck and back. Leonhardi sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat paired with Impact belts. He wore a Simpson helmet and Simpson Hybrid head-and-neck restraint.
The wreck damaged the Warrior Race Cars chassis beyond repair. It will signal the end of the team owned by Jim Harrah.
“It is the only car we had,” Harrah, of Fayetteville, Georgia, said. “We had everything we owned into that car and have nothing to start over. It is disheartening. I did not want to go out this way. I knew I was at the end of my career as a car owner, but it happened quicker than I wanted it to. A lot of people are just like me. One good wreck and they are finished. It’s really hard to start over.”
Harrah started racing in 1982. In addition to racing cars himself, he also worked as a tech inspector for several series. Leonhardi started driving for Harrah last season.
“Zach is an up-and-coming driver,” said Harrah. “Man, could he wheel a race car.”
Zach Leonhardi salvaged the engine from the wrecked race car and will install it into his own late model. He intends to race primarily at Senoia Raceway in Georgia.
“I feel horrible for Jim — I enjoyed racing for him,” Leonhardi said. “I’m hoping we’ll have him in our pit, working on the car, when we head to Senoia Raceway.”
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.
