After his front-wheel drive rolled over, landed upside down, and caught on fire on Friday, who would have thought Chris Yob would win on Sunday?
The wild wreck occurred at Linda’s Speedway, when Yob crashed into a yuke tire.
“I was hanging upside down with the track crew screaming, ‘Fire!’” Yob, of Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, said. “I’m a big boy, and they couldn’t get me out of the car. My crew member Josh Kuronya ran out on the track and shouted that he knew how to get me out. He released my harness but getting me out of the window while upside down was a struggle.”
Yob sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a Simpson five-point harness. He wore a RaceQuip helmet, NecksGen head-and-neck restraint, Accelo Racewear fire suit, and Zamp gloves and shoes.
“Oil was draining out of the dipstick hole and started a fire near the header and valve cover,” said Yob. “The crew put the fire out quickly. I walked on my own to the pits, thinking my car didn’t look too bad.”
When Yob’s car returned to the pits, he learned things were worse than he thought.
“I guess another guy hit my car when it was upside down,” Yob said. “The trunk was destroyed. The radiator supports were broken, all the fenders were smashed, and the body was twisted. I told myself I was all done.”
The Rebuild
Yob and his crew — wife, Erika; Dave Gonsalves; Josh Kuronya; and Josh’s father, Chris — immediately loaded the Nissan onto their trailer and headed home.
“We thrashed all night until 3:30 a.m.,” said Yob. “We took all the fenders off and everything apart. Later Saturday morning, we straightened everything the best we could. We needed an axle, tie rods, a radiator support, and new wiring because of the fire.”
By Saturday afternoon, the Nissan was running and drivable.
“Both strut trees were bent, so we hooked the Nissan to a tree with a come-along and made the strut towers straight again,” Yob said. “Then we finished putting everything back on. We welded, beat on parts, and finally got the bumper back on by midnight.”
The Return
Sunday morning Yob ran to the local parts store to get new coolant and oil for his car before driving from his home to Action Track USA. Yob started third in his heat and won. On the redraw, he picked third starting spot in the feature.
“A couple of cars passed me at the start, but I held my own,” said Yob. “Gaining one, losing one position on each restart until the final restart. I was in second on that restart, and when the leader dumped his clutch I pulled ahead and got around him.”
Yob led 11 laps in route to victory. Roughly 42 hours since he and his Nissan were upside down, they rolled into victory lane.
“We built the car before this season in 32 days,” Yob said. “My crew sacrificed so much of their time. We won the first race at Grandview, but nothing since.
“The wreck Friday was totally my fault. Even so, [my crew] all stuck with me, encouraged me, and said that we could make this happen. The win was for them.”
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.
