Despite what the scene may look like, Chase Peterson walked away from this wreck. It occurred in a Monday hobby stock heat race during the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals at Iowa’s Boone Speedway.
“I was coming out of turn two full throttle,” Peterson, of Princeton, Minnesota, said. “A car came up the track — I thought he would miss me, but he clipped my car on the driver’s side rear. That sent me sideways on two wheels. The control arm ripped out of its bushing, and hooked my car into the track and I started rolling.”
Peterson’s safety gear started with a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a Crow Safety Gear five-point harness. He wore a Speedway Motors helmet and collar.
“I stayed awake through the whole crash,” said Peterson. “It happened so quickly — I didn’t have time to think about it until the car stopped rolling. I was able to climb out under my own power. I never had a wreck like that.”
Chase Peterson won nine features this year along with two track championships at a pair of Minnesota tracks — Buffalo River Speedway in Glyndon and Norman County Raceway in Ada. He leads the IMCA Minnesota state point standings.
Peterson returned to Minnesota after the wreck. A fabricator by trade, his hobby stock was the first car from his new enterprise, KISS Chassis. Peterson hopes to repair the car so he can compete in the final six races left in his home state.
“Everything on the suspension is bent or broke and will have to be replaced,” Peterson said. “The halo had a slight bend from hitting the track in the same place three times. The rest of the chassis appears to be fine. The worst thing about the crash is that is destroyed my car’s original 1980 Chevy Malibu roof and quarter panels. I just sighted another 1980 Malibu — and they are hard to find.
“I’ve got plenty of work to do and plenty of help at home. Because it is Super Nationals weekend, I’ll have a week and a half to do the repairs before racing resumes in Minnesota.”
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.
