Mod lite driver Cory Sonner started the A-feature in 16th during Sunday’s portion of the IMCA Speedway Motors Super Nationals. He made it up to seventh before taking this spill at Iowa’s Boone Speedway.
One lap earlier, Sonner hit a rut in turn three. The next lap he tried to go around it.
“My car was set up with a lot of side bite,” Sonner, of Polk City, Iowa, said. “I stiffened up the right rear and was ripping at the top of the track. After I ran through a hole, I decided to try to get around it by going in harder and higher on the next lap.”
That line did not work.
“My car bicycled and landed on its side,” said Sonner. “I have great safety equipment, and it saved me from serious injury.”
Sonner understands the value of safety equipment. His grandfather, Gil Sonner, is in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. His father, Don Sonner, owned sprint cars.
Sonner sat in an Ultra Shield Race Products full-containment seat, with a Sharp Advantage Safety Products seat insert, and paired with an Ultra Shield five-point harness. He wore Ultra Shield arm restraints, a Simpson Devil Ray helmet, and a Simpson Hybrid head-and-neck restraint.
“Cars can be fixed, but we can’t be,” Sonner said. “Even with all my safety equipment, I hit my leg on the steering shaft — I had a contusion on my leg. Then, my ring finger swelled up, so I went for X-rays. The X-rays showed nothing was broken — my finger was just jammed. I was cleared to race again.”
Cory Sonner raced an Edge chassis modified by Cliff Barber and Travis Stensland.
“There’s a lot of sheet metal work to be done by our body guy, Austin Glick,” said Sonner. “We’ll be checking the rear end and the engine. It should be good to go for our next races in Missouri next week — at Valley Speedway in Grain Valley and US 36 Raceway in Osborn.”
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.
