Watch out Elon Musk, Jaydun Thomas looks like he might give SpaceX a run for its money. His mod lite soared to the skies in the feature during the IMCATV Winter Nationals on Wednesday night at Central Arizona Raceway.
“It was my first race in a new car that turned out to be a rocket ship,” Thomas, of Price, Utah, said. “I hit a rut with the right frame rail and over we went. It was my first bad wreck — my first flip — and I was awake to remember the whole ride. If you are fast enough in racing, it’s bound to happen.”
With that mindset, Thomas prepared for the inevitable wreck and was not injured. He sat in an Ultra Shield full-containment seat paired with a five-point Ultra Shield set of belts. He wore a RaceQuip helmet and HANS device.
“I had no injuries, thanks to the safety equipment I used,” said Thomas. “Evolution Chassis builds a hell of a safe car.”
Jaydun Thomas and his family race mod lites together at Desert Thunder Raceway. Jaydun won eight times last season at the Price, Utah, dirt track, and the division championship. His father, Larry, won three and brother Dillion won three. The three Thomases hauled down to Central Arizona Raceway to compete this week.
Back to Jaydun’s car, they found no damage to his chassis, but they’ll have to replace many bolt-on parts. Fortunately, the Thomas family brought a spare car, just in case something like happened.
“Being my first race in the new car, I knew I would be working some bugs out of it — but I did not think I would wreck it the first night out,” Thomas said. “It was a relief to pull out a spare car and keep on racing the next night. I’m glad we brought it.”
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.
Photographers
In 2010, Stacy Kolar started in photography to capture her sons and their friends playing sports. She then moved into race photography in 2017 and covers dirt tracks in the Texas and surrounding areas.
