Donald Lingo Jr. didn’t let a recently broken wrist stop him from racing. Nor did it prevent him from winning not one, but two features during the Delaware Dirt Track Championships at Delaware International Speedway in Delmar. He earned victories in both the super and Rush crate late model classes.
Lingo sported a cast after breaking a bone in his wrist while working to bust a nut on one of his race cars in the shop. He underwent surgery three weeks ago. Doctors uses pins, plates, and screws to repair the damage.
“I was cleared for physical therapy by the doctors, so I guess racing could be considered physical therapy,” Lingo, 37, a mechanical engineer from Millsboro, Delaware, said. “The swelling was gone, so I wrapped my arm and hand tightly and went racing.”
Lingo owns seven super late model championships at Delaware International Speedway. He also races at Port Royal Speedway in Pennsylvania. At Port Royal, he qualified for both World of Outlaws Late Models features in May.
Back to last weekend, Lingo won the 50-lap super late model race. Then, he went 25 laps in the crate late model class to win that, too.
“I used my right hand to steer and my left hand to help guide the wheel when I needed to use my right hand for something other than steering,” said Lingo. “The tricky part was crossing up my arms to peel the tearoff with my right hand.”
Donald Lingo Jr. managed to make it work. However, he remains uncertain about whether his doctors would approve of his “physical therapy.”
“I don’t know if I will tell the doctor that I was racing — hopefully, it won’t be necessary,” Lingo said. “I’m going for a follow-up X-ray. The bones and plate seem okay to me. The X-ray should how everything is good. If so, all is well that ends well.”
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.
