The Rough Times of Racing! The Go-Carting Accident
At 11, we saw this group running go carts around a church parking lot. We went over and talked to them and found out that is was two brother and there kids that race locally. When in the next few weeks were were out at the dirt track watching go carts race around the track. And a few weeks later we had our own carts.
We finally got all the gear and the cart ready for racing, and we headed out to the track. We got there and found out that for what I was running, they did not have a youth class for, so I was to run with the adults. I went out and practiced and the track was a mess. Really muddy and hard to get a grip. We found out for the race that I would be starting 2nd. I was excited, but scared, because this was my first race. we got on the track and it was madding. Starting 2nd, meant that I was starting on the top of the track. The top is not where you want to be on a dirt track. So from the start I was shuffled back to the back. This was only a ten lap race and as soon as I knew it the white flag was out and all I had to do was make it around one more time. A exited turn four when my front wheel caught a rut in the track which through me into the wall. I hit the wall about 55 MPH and flew in the air across the track to the infield. The first think I could think of was get out of the cart. So I jumped out, and that is when the pain it me, and I fell to the ground. All I could hear was the P.A announcer, "It appears that he is going to be OK and will be back out next week." Boy he was wrong. I was proud that I almost went through a sold 3 feet concrete fence, that they had to stop and repair.
I got helped up with the aid of a medic and my dad. We got everything loaded up and headed back to Mesa. We stopped at a store and I got out to get a drink that was a big mistake. This is when I discovered that I could not walk, well walk with pain. We got home and my dad opens up the door and tells my mom, "I got our boy hurt!" It was back in the truck down to the hospital to see Doctor Price. I get into the ER and pull my pants off and I discover that I have a bruise behind my knee and that both ankles are sprained. I also had a little pain in my side and my neck. I was told be off my feet for a month.
But this was not all of the energies. In June I was at a family reunion and was playing softball with the cousins. I remember running to first base and then feeling pain in my foot. I had sprained my ankle pretty badly, that as I went to sit down, I went cold and started to shake. I was going into shock. Lucky we had a relative there, that was a doctor and saw what was going on and got it under control.
August came and I was old enough to got a big scout camp out just outside of flagstaff, called High on the Mountain Top. This was one of the largest gathering of LDS Scouts in Arizona. About day 6 there was a service project in which we went and planted new trees in a burnt out area. We got up at 5 and went to the field and planted our one tree. It was good to get back to the tent and the sleeping bag. My dad, just got up there that weekend and he woke me up for breakfast. But as I woke up, I just did not feel myself. I got out of the tent and my left arm was numb. Then my leg went numb, than my tongue. I was scared. I did not know what was happening to me. They got me to the medical tent and there was Doctor Price. He looked me over and said that if I was not a 12 year old boy, he would say I was having a stroke. He gave me the strongest stuff they had for head aches, and there advice was to get me home and to a doctor there. So I was sent down the hill back to the valley.
This numbness happened to me several times until I was 19. The only thing I could do was come home and take pain killer and sleep it off. Most of the times, this would happened at school after P.E. And then I would go to class and my tongue would go numb and could not tell anyone what was happening to me. So what was it? A concussion. After this I always wore a helmet ring around my neck to keep the head from moving to far forward.
We finally got all the gear and the cart ready for racing, and we headed out to the track. We got there and found out that for what I was running, they did not have a youth class for, so I was to run with the adults. I went out and practiced and the track was a mess. Really muddy and hard to get a grip. We found out for the race that I would be starting 2nd. I was excited, but scared, because this was my first race. we got on the track and it was madding. Starting 2nd, meant that I was starting on the top of the track. The top is not where you want to be on a dirt track. So from the start I was shuffled back to the back. This was only a ten lap race and as soon as I knew it the white flag was out and all I had to do was make it around one more time. A exited turn four when my front wheel caught a rut in the track which through me into the wall. I hit the wall about 55 MPH and flew in the air across the track to the infield. The first think I could think of was get out of the cart. So I jumped out, and that is when the pain it me, and I fell to the ground. All I could hear was the P.A announcer, "It appears that he is going to be OK and will be back out next week." Boy he was wrong. I was proud that I almost went through a sold 3 feet concrete fence, that they had to stop and repair.
I got helped up with the aid of a medic and my dad. We got everything loaded up and headed back to Mesa. We stopped at a store and I got out to get a drink that was a big mistake. This is when I discovered that I could not walk, well walk with pain. We got home and my dad opens up the door and tells my mom, "I got our boy hurt!" It was back in the truck down to the hospital to see Doctor Price. I get into the ER and pull my pants off and I discover that I have a bruise behind my knee and that both ankles are sprained. I also had a little pain in my side and my neck. I was told be off my feet for a month.
But this was not all of the energies. In June I was at a family reunion and was playing softball with the cousins. I remember running to first base and then feeling pain in my foot. I had sprained my ankle pretty badly, that as I went to sit down, I went cold and started to shake. I was going into shock. Lucky we had a relative there, that was a doctor and saw what was going on and got it under control.
August came and I was old enough to got a big scout camp out just outside of flagstaff, called High on the Mountain Top. This was one of the largest gathering of LDS Scouts in Arizona. About day 6 there was a service project in which we went and planted new trees in a burnt out area. We got up at 5 and went to the field and planted our one tree. It was good to get back to the tent and the sleeping bag. My dad, just got up there that weekend and he woke me up for breakfast. But as I woke up, I just did not feel myself. I got out of the tent and my left arm was numb. Then my leg went numb, than my tongue. I was scared. I did not know what was happening to me. They got me to the medical tent and there was Doctor Price. He looked me over and said that if I was not a 12 year old boy, he would say I was having a stroke. He gave me the strongest stuff they had for head aches, and there advice was to get me home and to a doctor there. So I was sent down the hill back to the valley.
This numbness happened to me several times until I was 19. The only thing I could do was come home and take pain killer and sleep it off. Most of the times, this would happened at school after P.E. And then I would go to class and my tongue would go numb and could not tell anyone what was happening to me. So what was it? A concussion. After this I always wore a helmet ring around my neck to keep the head from moving to far forward.
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