Champion driver Jeff Watson just wanted to help set up his friend Shane Irvin’s car. Unfortunately, the car crashed hard during the feature at Ponderosa Speedway.
“Shane thought he was having handling issues,” Watson, of Campbellsville, Kentucky, said. “Since we have the same kind of car, he asked me to take it out for a shakedown run. A new driver hit me in the right rear, right in my blind spot, while I was high on the track.”
The contact occurred while Watson was full throttle out of turn two.
“My right front was facing the wall,” said Watson. “The next thing I knew I was on the wall, riding down the backstretch. The car hit two caution poles plum center, ripping them down. I was dazed but not knocked out. I remember flipping into the weeds a couple times. The car landed on all fours. It took me a minute or two to come back to my senses.”
Watson sat in an Ultra Shield Race Products full-containment seat, with a Crow Safety Gear five-point harness. He wore a Zamp helmet, but no head-and-neck restraint.
“I guess I was lucky,” Watson said. “I was fine except for my right knee coming over and smashing into my left knee, which was sore afterward.”
Irvin watched the crash unfold from the sidelines.
“When I saw Jeff and my car disappear, the car wasn’t even on my mind,” said Irvin, of Windsor, Kentucky. “I had to check on Jeff first. I could replace a car, but I couldn’t replace him.”
Jeff Watson felt the car built by Swartz Race Cars held up well. However, besides a few bits and pieces here and there, it’s deemed a total loss, including possibly the engine. Irvin intends to regroup during the off-season and come back stronger in 2026.
“I could see Jeff’s disappointment — he wrecked my car,” Irvin said. “I told him, ‘Don’t worry about it. That you are okay is my main priority.’ We’ll get another car. It will be a winter project.”
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.
