The crash in 2016

Finally I have some time where I’m calm enough to form some sort of thought. Those of you on facebook probably already know whats going on.

My husband is a drag racer. And not just regular cars, he races the rail cars. The long pointy ones with the massive back tires that go 170 mph (280 kmph).

I’ll just tell the story how it happened or I’ll be jumping all over the place.

I went to see him at work on Friday to bring him lunch because he was busy working on his car that needed to be ready for friday evenings time trials. The drag races were in town this weekend. He was so tired and busy. When I went in, the car was on fire. And not in a good way lol. He had to re do all the wiring because something went wrong.

Anyway, at that point I told him he should probably just walk away from the car and the races this weekend. Just seemed like a bad idea. I got a text at 5:30pm saying the car was finally ready and he was headed to the track to do his time trials! I got a sitter and hopped in with my mom and went to watch him. He stalled his first run but they let him go again. He made good time I guess.

During this whole thing he was insanely stressed out and tired and he got mad at me. After his first run he apologized to me and I went home. Its like 7:15pm now. I get home and the kids got home shortly after. I sent the babysitter home and called my friend to tell her I was home and just have a chit chat while the kids played with their friend who was over.

I looked down at my phone ( I used headphones ) to see my other friend calling me, which I thought was weird. She was at the races and her husband works with mine. I quickly swapped calls to her and this is how the convo went.

K “Where are you??”
Me “I’m at home, why?”
K “So you arent here??”
Me “No.”
K “Okay, are you sitting?”
Me “Just fucking say it Krystyn!!!” (we have the same name diff spelling)
K “Chris rolled his car” starts to bawl
Me “IS HE OK?”
K “We dont know yet”
Me “IS HE OK FIND OUT IF HES OK”
K “Just get here somehow please get here quickly!! Kristen it was bad, please get here, I’ve never seen anything like this. He rolled at least 10 times.”

Another incoming call

Me “IS HE OK?”
B “We dont know yet, just find a way to get here”

Switch back to my call with my friend who I was originally talking to

me “Chris rolled his car chris rolled his car omfg no one knows if hes dead or not!!!”

I hung up on everyone. I tried to call my mom and my dad and ask them to come watch the kids so I could get to the track. Time moved so slowly. I thought he was dead. I called Chris’ cousin who was there, he didn’t see him get out of the car yet. Ambulance and fire trucks were working on it. My kids were running around as I was screaming on my front lawn. My neighbors probably thought I was crazy.

A million texts come in “I saw it happen, is he alive?” “Please tell me hes ok?” “Oh my god I just heard, is he ok”

All to which I couldn’t respond because my hands were shaking so fucking badly. It was like one of those nightmares where you can’t get your phone to do what you need it to do. I was pacing around, crying, begging God to not let him be dead. Saying to myself over and over that I can’t do this I can’t do this alone. I had enough time to think about what his funeral would be like, how I would tell the kids, what I might be headed to the track to see. Is he going to make it? Was he dead on impact? I’m telling you right now, you never want to get that phone call, and I would never wish it on my worst enemy.

Finally Kevin (chris’ cousin) shows up. Hes holding me while I scream and cry and panic. Said they think he rolled 12 times but there was no answer to whether or not he was alive or dead. The kids come outside and finally I remembered my cousin lives around the corner, I’ll just drop them off there so I try my best to stay calm and get them ready to go there, when Krystyn shows up with her oldest daughter and my mom pulled in too. Krystyns kid stay with mind and I jumped in the truck with Kevin to head down there.

When I got there, they wouldn’t let us in. Kevin told them who I was and that I needed to get to the accident NOW. They said “No she shouldn’t go down there, she can wait here for the ambulance”… I was seeing red. Then I saw a family friend Rob, hes also on the fire dept, I then jumped out of the truck as he ran over to me and hugged me and I heard the best words “hes ok, hes ok, hes ok” as I sobbed and sobbed.

Hes ok. He got out of the car by himself and is now laying there with the medics working on him. Oh my fucking god. I couldn’t believe it. But then it hit me again. Is this shock? Is he standing because hes in shock? Hes alive but is he brain dead? Again, no answers. How could someone survive that?

Finally I was ale to get into this side by side quad thing and we led the ambulance (theres one there for safety at all times so they have to call the other one in to take him to the hospital ) down the track. I’m a mess. Crying my eyes out as we drive past all the people in the stands. All these people are my friends. Everyone knows who we are. This is a small town. Some people knew it was him that crashed, some people only found out at that moment. I could see so many shocked faces, and hands over mouths and all at once a bunch of them started running. Not sure where, to tell their spouses or to try and gain more information…

I get about halfway down the runway and the other drag racer that races the same style car as chris for the same company, texts me and tells me to call him. My heart sinks. I called, he answered, hes happy. He hands the phone to Chris and I get to hear his voice “Kristen I’m ok, I’m ok, its going to be fine”… I hung up because my hands wouldn’t work.

I get there and I ran to him, everyone was in my way, crying and hugging each other. We are a race family, these people got to him so fast. Hes sitting with a medic holding his C spine in a brace, it was the scariest thing I’ve ever seen, his eyes were closed and he was just resting. He heard me and his eyes opened and I just dropped to my knees beside him and the medic gave me the ok to hold him. I fucking lost my mind crying.

Great now I’m crying again.

He rubbed my back and said he was fine. I looked over him expecting blood and gore and there was nothing. Absolutely nothing. I mean yes they said he was ok but I thought that just meant that he was alive. Not even a broken bone? How?

I stood up so they could get him on the board. Everyone swarmed me and hugged me and made sure that I felt safe. So many people. I just can’t even begin to explain the fear. It was an hour from start to finish before we got him into the ambulance and on his way to the hospital.

I felt so sick to my stomach. 40 mins or so in the hospital and he walked out of there. He got up, and walked away from this. We went home and told the kids he was fine, and then went back to the races, to let everyone there see he was ok.

I’ll explain how I’ve been feeling lately in the next entry. Not sure if I’ll get over this as quickly as he did. I’m not sure how in the fuck he survived. Thats a testament to how these cars are built. His hans device on his neck saved his life.

He rolled 13 times total, wrecked the car, and was doing around 160 miles per hour when he did it. Someone is watching over this man. I swear to god. I can’t believe hes still here with us today. I’m so beyond grateful.

Kristen <3