Sometimes we take for granted how dangerous racing can be. We look at one racerchick's story on the bad side of racing - the times when it hurts us ....both inside and out.

A Survivor's Story

By Teresa Morten

Entering the track that day seemed like just another day at the races. I looked over at the ½ mile asphalt oval track as we signed in to go racing. It looked just like it has for the last 5 years that I had been racing on it, but when I left that night "safety" would bring on a whole new meaning to everyone.

I changed over to my fire suit and shoes after helping my crew unload the Grand American Modified from the trailer. I got my helmet and radio ready in the racecar. I checked over my car's interior - all o.k. I took my first session of practice laps and then the second. We had some adjustments to do to bring our lap times down.

The car had only seen 5 races prior to this race. It was a new Harris chassis that we ordered at the end of our 2000 season. And over the winter months, my husband and crew chief, Tim Morten, had spent countless hours completing the car, installing the motor and setting it up for our 2001 season.

"Grand American Modifieds" was called over the pit P.A. system. Our 25 lap main event race was next. The track had cooled down a lot now as the sun and the heat was gone. We were ready!

I climbed in through the racecar's window, sat into the custom build wrap around padded seat and belted on the 5 point safety harness. Then I placed on the quick-release steering wheel with its center pad and checked my push to talk button on the left side. Next, my earplugs with speakers went in, helmet on, neck brace around, pulled on the gloves and a visual check of the driver's compartment. Then thumbs' up was shown to my crew as they pushed the car out of our pit space and onto pit road.

Firing up the motor, oh how I love that sound, I drove down to the staging area. We were starting in a tough spot, not up front, but instead in the middle. We would have to pass those in front of me and do it quick and then try to catch the fast qualifiers up front.

We raced the first 20 laps, passing a few, and then trying desperately to pass one more car that I was directly behind. He would drift up upon entering, but then sling back down, cutting the hole off for me to get through. I tried for a few laps and then the white flag was waving in front of us as we exited out of turn 4. I knew for another top 5 finish we had to pass him and do it now!

As we raced at top speed, 120 m.p.h. down the front stretch, I went to the outside hoping for a good run coming off the turn and then using that momentum to pass him coming out of turn 2. But what happened next left a silence over the crowd and shook up many of the track officials.

As I drove the car to the outside just before braking, my left front tire hit the other driver's right rear tire. With open wheel race cars, if the tires hit you can become air born and bounce or ricochet off, which is what happened. I ricocheted off his tire and straight into the wall, hitting it - head-on!

I remember hitting the other car's tire, and then seeing the wall directly in front of me. It happened so fast that I didn't have time to brake before I hit the wall. The next thing I saw when I looked up was that I was stopped at the wall which was directly in front of me and steam coming from the radiator. Looking out my window I saw the water running down the track, "well, there goes the radiator" I thought to myself. "That's a $200 part!" I then looked under the dash to see the steering column bowed up and distorted. I was unable to get the wheel to come off as I pushed the quick-release button and pulled on the wheel. "Well, the steering column is bent, the box must be pushed up" as I was trying to access the damage from inside the car.

A track official was at my window net within seconds. "Teresa, you O.K.? Teresa?" I nodded yes. He asked again, "you O.K.?" "Yes, I replied" after opening up my visor and catching my breath. I was starting to feel the "sting" on my inner thighs from the belts catching me as the force of my body pushed against them on impact.

Now the track's chief steward, Sonny, arrived. He pushed his way to my window net looking into the foot compartment and asking me the same question, "Teresa, You O.K.?" He was now leaning inside the car trying to see if the impact had sent some of the motor or chassis into my feet or foot box area. At this point I had still not realized the severity of the impact or the damage to the car. I just wanted out and was getting mad thinking about the damage to come. This is just what a racer does!

Then suddenly I thought like a mom, thinking about my two sons, ages 12 and 10 along with my parents who were in the stands and what they just saw - Oh my! Then Tim came on my radio, "You o.k. babe?" He had just ran from the other end of the track at turn 3 to turn 2 to be closer. Now, thinking that my boys, my dad, and the fans with scanners would hear me, I caught my breath and answered very strong and bravely "Yes, I am O.K. I am o.k. guys."

The stands at this time, I am told, were deathly quiet. A red flag had been thrown just after we hit the wall and all racers had stopped on the track. The sound of the car hitting the wall was so loud that many people still tell me that it made them shiver. This loud boom sound carried over into the pit area bringing many who were getting ready for the next race, running over to the fence to see what had happened. Many were stunned at what they saw. Reports later were that no one had ever heard anything like it before!

Still in the car, which was now surrounded by officials and safety crew, I removed my gloves and helmet. Doing this would remove me from any further contact with my crew, but I needed to get out of the racecar, so I again said I'm o.k. I placed my helmet, along with my gloves and neck brace tucked neatly inside, on the hook attached to my cage. I had removed my belts as well and was still trying to remove the wheel. My lower lip now started to hurt and I felt it swelling. I moved my feet, the sting on the thigh area seemed to subside and now I was started to think, "I want out of this car!" I remember while talking to the official, I heard cheering in the stands. It was only later that I finally put two and two together and realized that those cheers was in reply to the announcement made from the tower, "from our racing radio network, we hear the driver, Teresa, is O.K."

Sonny and I pulled and pulled. It wasn't budging, not even a wiggle. Nothing. I then tried to get out with the wheel on, nope, that wasn't going to work either. There was not enough room to me to pull forward from my seat and squeeze out the window. Sonny tried again. Then finally as he looked under the dash he stated to me, "sweetheart, it's already bent and we need to push it over". Knowing that it was not a re-usable part, I replied, "I know, Sonny, I just want out of here." My adrenaline had started to decrease and I wanted out of the seat. I needed to move about and stretch. I also thought about the fans, who were growing more concerned and impatient. Sonny pushed the wheel to the right, while another official pulled from the right side opening of the car as I climbed out and felt the pain in my left neck/shoulder area.

I waved up to the crowd, hoping more importantly that my sons saw with their own eyes I was ok, especially after seeing me sitting in the destroyed racecar for such a long time. The officials, securely holding onto my arms, walked me to the pace car. I then heard the pace car driver, Curtis, say he was taking me directly to the ambulance.

As the pace car started to drive off I looked up at the wall at the track exit. There I spotted, with the most worried look on his face, my husband, and next to him was our crewmember, Ryan Yamasaki. I could only wave at them as the pace car drove off the track towards the ambulance. I was now feeling some pain and rubbing the left shoulder and neck area. Curtis offered me some water and drove me to the ambulance, even though I pointed to my pit area, he replied, "No, you need to go see the EMTs."

I entered the ambulance feeling like I didn't need to be there, but as I climbed in I thought maybe it wasn't a bad idea. Sitting down I looked out the back of the ambulance and saw Tim looking in at me through the back window. Tim came in and sat along side me and asked how I was still with a worried look on his face. I told him I was ok just need to be checked by the EMT. I then asked how was the car, he looked at me in disbelief and said "don't worry about the car, let's worry about you, we can fix the car later." The EMT asked me my name, what day it was, and where I hurt.

The stings from the belts were now gone, they would turn to bruises later on. The left shoulder was hurting, but no collarbone broken. I refused to be transported for just a sore shoulder and was released. All the while in the ambulance I was on the edge of crying about the car and saying to Tim, "I am so sorry about the car." He would just shake his head and say don't worry about it." Still at this point I had no idea the extent of damage nor had I even seen the front of the car. The officials had walked me away from it and I was never able to look back.

Tim walked with me back to our pit area all the while keeping a close eye on me and holding my arm. Tina, with Raceway Ministries, also showed concern and walked with us back to our hauler. By this time the track safety crew had removed the car from the track using two tow trucks and placed it in our pit area. Tim was needed for directional purposes, so he advised me to stay in the truck and not to look at the car. Tina remained with me as I sat there trying to look out the truck window at the car. After a few people checked in with me I told Tina I couldn't sit there anymore and walked over to the car that had now been placed down on jack stands.

The damage to the car was SO much worse then I had imagined. As other racers, crew members and officials gathered around they all looked in disbelief. Their eyes, wide and astounded, their faces in awe, the mouths, open and speechless, they walked around the car, like zombies. Many came over, "sore?" they would ask. "What happened?" Then take a deep breath, give me a hug and seemed relieved I was o.k.

I had taken some pain relievers while sitting in the truck and I knew I would continue this for the remainder of the weekend. The shoulder pain lessened but the lip was still swollen. I just thought it was from the microphone in the helmet. After we got the car via the tow truck on the trailer and the races were over, we gathered our sons and went with friends to dinner. Yes, I was sore but hungry! On our way there my left hand begun to swell and the pain got to be pretty bad.

From looking at the steering wheel in the pits we knew why. It seems that I had held on to the wheel upon contact and not only bent the wheel into the oblong shape I also turned it inside out. It wasn't, however, until the following day that the true damage would be assessed.

It would start from with the front cross member of the chassis coming back into the motor. Both the left and right sides of the front clip were completely folded and collapsed. The tires were shoved back into the frame and the whole car was shortened by about 3-4 feet. To remove the motor we had to cut the cross member and also part of the clip. The suspension parts up front were gone, too bent to even remove. Many were cut away still wadded up and wedged together. Once this was completed we took a sledgehammer to the driveline and transmission. Seems the impact had wedged the driveline into the tranny and we weren't able to get them apart. Tim had to take quite a few good whacks at it to separate them.

The driver's compartment overall stayed intact and open, thus leaving room for the driver's body. The door bars on both sides were all intact and looked like new. The other bars in front of the driver, which come from the front of the car, were ripped or torn at the welds outside the foot box, thus not impeding into the driver. The dash was bowed up but intact. A ripple in the sheet metal near the transmission area was visual once the seat was removed. The opening in the sheet metal behind the driver's seat where the seat belts come through was ripped and torn forward. This happened due to the belts catching me during the initial impact. Things stretch and pull during such a force and for this reason the belts were removed and thrown out.

Come Sunday night we took the boys to the movies. As I sat there in the theater, it felt as though I had spider webs on my face. I wiped and wiped, but then touching my face, I realized it was the tissue and muscles tingling from the impact. The feeling was all along the right side: the eye socket, check bone and nose. On Monday night I pulled on my helmet and as I looked through the visor, in my mind I saw the wall again. I pulled my head with the helmet downward at the chin area and wow, I felt the pain in my left shoulder and neck, not to mention the face area that had tingled the night before. Looking at the helmet and steering wheel pad we were able to reconstruct what happened to me upon the impact.

Hitting the wall at that velocity, the impact pushed the steering box back towards me. The steering shaft never bent or broke! Instead this steel rod became a spear, and without a collapsible steering rod devise it slammed the wheel into me.

The steering wheel pad was helpful to somewhat soften the blow as the wheel came up into my helmet. Now having a full-face helmet was extremely important here as the wheel's pad hit into the chin area of the helmet, cracking the helmet and leaving pieces of the outer shell stuck into the pad itself, and pieces from the pad stuck into the chin area of the helmet. Inspecting the visor on my helmet, Tim noticed it was not able to close properly as the helmet was distorted and bent! Those feelings of tingling I had was due to the impact of the inner part of the helmet cushioning the blow, but still leaving some tenderness and tingling. A new full-face helmet was again ordered for me. The neck brace, which is mandatory on Altamont Raceway Park's 1/2 mile track, helped my neck and shoulders by not whipping forward as it would have without it.

If a fire had occurred after the impact, we all know the outcome would have been quite different. I could have deployed the on-board fire suppression system as well as the track officials using their fire extinguishers. But the extreme need to get me out would of been much more important and would of been a life threatening situation. With that in mind, and knowing that the threat of fire would have changed the outcome quite drastically, my crew has stated to me quite firmly, "our next car will have the collapsible steering shaft." Yeah, I won't argue with them on that one, for the safety of the driver is foremost!

All the safety equipment that we had in and on the car, those mandatory or not, all worked. They did their job and protected me. When viewing the tape of the accident we saw how the impact actually turned and spun the car a full 360-degrees and into the wall again. I didn't even know this until I saw the tape - my head went forward, hit the wheel and when I looked back up I was stationary and seeing the wall again.

My hand was sore for a long while. The doctors thought it was fractured, but while waiting for another set of x-rays we returned to racing the following week to take the green flag in a borrowed racecar. I proved to myself and my crew that what we had been working so hard for wasn't going to end, and we moved up from 5th to 4th in the points standings that week. After more x-rays the doctors released me to go racing - well sort of!

The track is now making mandatory the collapsible steering column for all cars on the ½ mile track. In fact, during my acceptance of our 3rd place trophy for the season, it was announced they are calling it "The Morten Steering Rod."

I know that I am lucky to have walked away and to be here today writing you this story. My family is also very grateful. While many people seem to think that racing is so dangerous, lets look at it this way: "If I had taken a hit like that in my passenger vehicle, I probably wouldn't be here now." The safety of our racecars and racetracks is incredible. As we learn from accidents like mine, tracks like Altamont Raceway Park will learn to improve upon these safety items and issues.

I know I am a survivor! 

For more information on Teresa and her team - please visit: www.scatracing.com and www.mortenmotorsports.com

We at racerchicks.com wish Teresa and her race car a speedy recovery - Our thoughts are with you and we are grateful that you are 110% alright!