The hobby stock driven by Joe Gordon catapulted into the catchfence at Park Jefferson International Speedway. Gordon was passing cars early on in the race last Friday, when the car driven by Ryler Zeigmann hit Gordon’s along the frontsretch.
“It appeared that [Zeigmann] was heading for the infield and overcorrected,” Gordon, of Sioux City, Iowa, said. “He then headed towards my car. I tried to slow down but there was no stopping what was about to happen. I thought our two cars would just collide, but the force was more than I imagined.”
The crash did not injure Gordon. He sat in a “racing seat” with a Speedway Motors five-point harness. Gordon wore a Zamp helmet with a neck collar.
“I’m thankful I took the time to tighten my belts before the feature,” said Gordon. “I made them the tightest I ever did. The next day I was a little stiff and had some bruises. I’m now looking into purchasing a head-and-neck restraint.”
However, Gordon’s hobby stock, built by Right Turn Chassis, didn’t fare as well as Gordon did.
“The whole front end was destroyed,” Gordon said. “All steering components, the upper and lower control arms, spindles, tie rods, ball joints, shocks — both sides got hit. We need more than $1,000 in parts and we’re trying to round up funding from our sponsors.”
Gordon shares driving duties with his 19-year-old son Caydin. Gordon steers it at Park Jefferson while Caydin takes over the driver’s seat at OffRoad Speedway, Shelby County Speedway, and Worthington Speedway. Three generations work on the car, including Gordon’s father Chuck.
They’ll have their work cut out for them. Caydin works at O’Reilly Auto Parts, but Joe Gordon recently got laid off from his job as a service writer.
“We’re a family of motor enthusiasts,” said Gordon. “We enjoy every moment we are racing. Hopefully, we can get back out there. The car is torn apart, and we need to be ready for the upcoming big shows.”
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.
