Front-wheel-drive racer Zachery Roderick rolled over his car after his right-rear wheel caught a rut and broke at I-75 Raceway outside of Sweetwater, Tennessee. It left him with a mild concussion, but it could have been worse if he hadn’t learned from a bad crash he had three years ago.
In that instance, it knocked him unconscious for more than three hours. It left Roderick with a severe concussion, broken ribs, bleeding on the brain, and not being able to move any part of his body for four days. He also lost half of his tongue.
“The first thing I did after my first crash was buy a full-containment seat,” Roderick, of Athens, Tennessee, said. “I pray for a safe race every time I get into my car. I hoped I would never roll over another time. I’m glad I prepared for it.”
This time, Roderick sat in a ButlerBuilt full-containment seat, with a five-point harness purchased from Jegs. He wore a helmet from Summit Racing Equipment. However, here’s still room for improvement admitted Roderick.
“I didn’t get a head-and-neck restraint, but now that is something I will consider,” said Roderick. “This time, I felt okay. The track paramedics checked me, and I was told to sit in the safety truck. Then my girlfriend, Paige Stanton Crawford, took me straight to the emergency room. She was there both times I crashed. She saw it all and it was horrible for her. I appreciate her taking care of me.”
At the hospital, he received several scans, and they told him to “take it easy for a few days,” according to Roderick.
As far as the car, he said the wreck destroyed it, but Zachery Roderick is ready to race again.
“If I’m racing this week, I’ll have to buy a car that is race ready,” Roderick said. “If not, I’ll have to build a car. And if I won’t be racing, I’ll be there watching,”
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.
