This year Justin Luinenburg seemed on track to win a bunch of stock car features. However, he seems stuck at win No. 13. While going for the lead en route to win No. 14, Luinenburg tumbled at Clay County Fair Speedway.
“I caught the berm in turn one and my car took off on me,” Luinenburg, of Reading, Minnesota, said. “I went over five times — I never been upside down in 25 years of racing. My car came to its final rest on all fours. I was kind of dazed and needed a moment to soak in what had just happened.”
The track crew rushed to Luinenburg’s aid.
“They asked me if I wanted to get into the ambulance,” said Luinenburg. “I climbed out on my own and I felt fine. I was just rattled a bit and couldn’t understand why the crash happened.”
The next morning Luinenburg felt the results of the crash on his body.
“I was stiff and sore,” Luinenburg said. “It reminded me of high school football sore — playing Friday night and waking up on Saturday morning feeling what my body endured the night before. I paid a visit to my chiropractor, and everything is fine.”
Luinenburg sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a Crow five-point harness. He wore a Bell helmet paired with a Simpson head-and-neck restraint. The crash damaged mostly the right-front suspension of his Terminator Chassis from Harris Auto Racing. However, tumbles did slightly bow the roll cage’s halo on the passenger side.
“I was surprised the car held up so well — Harris did its homework in designing these cars,” said Luinenburg. “I’m getting back from Terminator with the car on Friday. I’m hoping to race on Sunday.”
The crash occurred during the Hunting with Heroes Salute to Veterans Tour. Justin Luinenburg hoped he could have won No. 14 on that big stage.
“I hadn’t won a Salute to Veterans race yet, and I was setting up to do so,” Luinenburg said. “My bumper was two feet way from Jason Fisher’s, who won the race. I guess being at 13 wins is a bad spot to be stuck in.”
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.
