The good news: sport compact driver Derek Iser survived his worst wreck in 20 years of racing. However, on the ride back home, tears began to fill his eyes. Could this be the end of his racing?
Derek’s small, family-owned team consists of his wife, Sarah; son Brayden, 12; and father, Jimmy.
“Dad said, ‘Cut your losses. It may be time to call it quits,’” Derek, of Fort Ashby, West Virginia, said. “No way did I want to quit. The expense to build another car would be too much money.”
Derek wrecked when his car’s right-front wheel caught a rut at Winchester Speedway in Virginia. The accident occurred during qualifying for the SCDRA-sanctioned race. He landed upside down, but exited the car with no injury after the track crew righted the car. SCDRA prides itself making sure its racers stay as safe as possible.
“[SCDRA Northeast’s Erica Duvall] required that all safety equipment be brought to inspection to be checked before the cars are stickered,” Derek said. “That’s why I walked away from the crash — SCDRA puts safety first.”
Derek sat in a Kirkey full-containment seat with a Simpson five-point harness. He wore a Velocita helmet and Simpson Hybrid head-and-neck restraint. BradBuilt built the sport compact.
“SCDRA cars have a tubular chassis built over the unibody design, which makes them safe at the speeds they are raced at,” Derek said. “The cage held up perfectly in my car. In the cockpit everything held up safety wise — and that’s all that counts in a wreck this bad.”
Back at the shop the Sunday after the race, while Derek’s father wasn’t hopeful of his prospects, his wife offered some consolatory advice.
“She told me, ‘You believe in God. Ask him to steer you in the right direction,’” Derek said. “I prayed, ‘Dear God, maybe you can give me another race car?’”
The next morning, Rick Berenger messaged Derek on Facebook.
“Hey man, sometimes God puts certain people in certain situations to help others… I have a car for you, if you can go pick it up, you can have it,” Rick told Derek.
Derek, who never met Rick before, took him up on his offer. On Monday, the Isers drove 10 hours, round trip, to pick up their new car, a 1998 Honda Civic. They look to make their next race, the SCDRA Northeast season opener at Bedford Speedway on April 17.
Derek Iser did not get to meet Rick when he picked up the car but hopes to meet him someday. When Derek told Rick of his plans, Rick simply said, “Just go and have fun man and send me a picture [when] it’s done.”
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.
