Last Friday night did not go as planned for Joshua Wright. He found himself battling an ill-handling car that finished the night upside down during the factory stock feature at Clarksville Speedway.
“My car kept wanting to creep up on the track on the two previous laps,” Wright, of Princeton, Kentucky, said. “Coming out of [turn] two on the white-flag lap, it was like a magnet sucked me up into the wall. The rear came around and I went over the wall, and then flipped back onto the track, landing hard on the driver’s side.”
After the track crew confirmed Wright was okay, they flipped his car back onto all four wheels.
“I turned the power switch off immediately when I landed,” said Wright. “I had no trouble getting out of my car on my own. My shoulders were sore from the landing, but I was okay.”
Wright sat in an Ultra Shield full-containment seat, with a RaceQuip five-point harness. He wore a Zamp helmet, but no head-and-neck restraint.
“I’d like to get a head-and-neck restraint now,” Wright said. “That was a bad crash — the worst I have experienced. I’m 40 and I started racing part time just three seasons ago. The guys my age who have raced a long time make it look easy.”
The former drag racer already has a new Rat Chassis factory stock on order. For his new car, he’ll use parts salvaged from his wrecked one, including the engine, transmission, and rear suspension. Wright plans to rebuild his old car — it needs a front clip — and use it as a backup. He has yet to race a full season. Joshua Wright hopes to compete regularly at Western Kentucky Speedway this year.
“My first year racing I shared a car with Tyler Markham — he had the chassis, I had the drivetrain,” said Wright. “The second year I had a knee replaced and Tyler drove my car the first half of the season. I’m determined to make this my first full season and get as much seat time as I could. Hopefully, I got the bad luck out of the way.”
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.
