When a pickup truck made an abrupt turn onto the track, 350 Super driver Bobby Timmons had nowhere to go. The two collided, ending the day early for the defending track champion of Star Speedway in Epping, New Hampshire.
The incident occurred under caution for the 350 Bob Webber Sr./Jim Martel Memorial 47.
Timmons posted an in-car video of the incident on Facebook with the following written: “I talk a lot. I am still legitimately speechless…. Super modifieds do not have starters, transmissions, clutches, radios or mirrors. Race control was telling me, and the rest of the field to catch the leader and get into our correct starting positions.”
Later on, Timmons elaborated on what happened with us.
“As a driver, you take for granted that the push trucks communicate with the track and know what is going around them on the track,” Timmons, of Windham, Maine, said. “It happened so fast and so unexpectedly that now, two days removed, I am still in disbelief.”
Timmons exited the car without serious injury, complaining only about a sore shoulder later on Sunday. He wore a Bell GTX3 Carbon helmet paired with a HANS device. Timmons sat in a full-containment seat he built, with a Simpson five-point harness installed. He also built the chassis. His family’s machine shop has built nine supers over the years.
The car suffered damage to the right-front suspension, right nerf bar, and all of the right-rear suspension, including the birdcage, mount, axle, rear end, and Panhard-bar mount. In addition, the impact damaged the rear of the body, top wing, and wing board. Timmons said they can fix all the damage, it’s just a matter of time.
“I hit that truck hard,” said Timmons. “The track wouldn’t let me near the truck. I was told the driver was okay. I don’t know who was driving. All I know is that the pickup had to be towed away.”
Bobby Timmons commended Star Speedway’s response to the crash.
“I want to emphasize that the track was really good about the incident,” Timmons said. “They cut me a check for the damages and my tire bill. [Sponsor and son of the race’s namesake] Scott Martel also cut me a check. I received money from friends and fans on Venmo.”
Timmons hopes the accident serves as a reminder to those on-track.
“I want everyone to see this so they pay attention more — both drivers and push truck operators need to be aware when they are on the track,” said Timmons. “Star Speedway felt bad. I felt bad. My car is wrecked. A new Chevy pickup got wrecked. Everyone feels awful about what happened.”
Mike Adaskaveg 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.
