When the dust settled, Tavien Blowers wound up in this situation with his limited sportsman. The incident occurred last Saturday during the Thunder on the Thruway Series event at Fonda Speedway in New York.
Blowers started in 18th spot and steadily moved through the field. By the fourth lap, he found himself in eighth. However, as fast as was his ascent to the front, his descent was even quicker.
“A couple of cars ahead of me checked up and the 55 of Jonathan Feagles came across the track — it wasn’t his fault,” Blowers, 15, of Johnstown, New York, said. “My left-front tire hopped his right front and the next thing I knew my car went over.
“It happened so fast … all I remember is being on my roof. I shut the car off and climbed through the right side of the car.”
Prior to racing sportsman modifieds, Blowers competed in Slingshots. Mark O’Connor offered him a ride in his car. Blowers started the season in the rookie sportsman class at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park in Fultonville, New York. He quickly became acclimated to the bigger car. Blowers earned two wins and a second in his first three outings.
He then moved into the regular sportsman class. This past weekend marked Blowers first venture to the Thunder on the Thruway Series. He finished sixth on Friday at Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. Unfortunately, his crash at Fonda relegated him to a 14th-place finish.
Fortunately, however, Blowers was not injured. He sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat, with a Simpson harness. Blowers wore a Bell helmet paired with a Simpson Hybrid head-and-neck restraint.
The chassis from Bicknell Racing Products needed a new front clip and had to have some bolt-on parts replaced. However, Tavien Blowers plans to be ready to race this weekend.
“We are putting the car back together and we will be racing Sunday night at Glen Ridge Motorsports Park,” Blowers said. “In the future, I want to travel to get more experience and more seat time.”
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.
