[Pavement Dave]

To see the spectacular crash from the Little 500 involving Tom Paterson go to the Must See site
www.mustseeracing.com

Notice Windom making the move through the grass to miss that.. and on from there to the circle.. after another 440 laps or so atleast..

[1121]

If you notice, it was actually my evil twin "Tim"

Tom Paterson

[PJ Wright]

Tom (or "Tim"), Glad you're OK! Obviously a well built car driven by a guy smart enough not to compromise on his safety equipment.

[Tim Watson]

That was a nasty one indeed.

[Tony Barhorst]

Tom,

Your earlier description of the accident after you started flipping was harrowing. Describe what happened leading up to the incident.

How much damage did your car sustain? What will it take to fix it.?

I hope you are back in action soon. I always enjoy your posts here. Very informative.

Best,
Tony Barhorst

[oljonesy]

hope to see you at anderson!!

[1121]

First of all, I’d like to say something that I should have said a long time ago. On Tuesday before the race (practice day), the best lap I could produce was a 12.1. At that time, I had never driven a lap at Anderson Speedway without a wing under the 12 second mark. My fast lap qualifying on Friday was an 11.3.

This was a direct result of the work two of my best friends, Chad Delagrange and Jim Payne, put into the car. And times, I think they worked on me as much as they worked on the car. They made me believe we were fast enough to make the show. And for that I will be eternally grateful.

But to answer your questions Tony, I feel my crash was just a racing incident. At the start of the race, under a full fuel load, the car wasn’t very good. It felt as if the front wheels weren’t even on the ground and I was struggling. During the first caution, Chad was on the radio asking me what was wrong. I explained to him what was happening and he told me to move up the track a bit and “just drive the d*mn thing!”

Following his advice after the restart, the car felt like the car I qualified. I don’t know if it was the lighter fuel load, the tire came in or I was just “driving the d*mn thing.” But the car felt great. Brandon Whited in the 15 was in front of the pack followed by Baumgartner in the eight, then Jeff Bloom, then me. I think we were all faster than Brandon, but not fast enough to easily pass him. If you watch the very start of the video, it looks like Baumgartner bumps Brandon to move him over (a common practice at the Little 500) but gets a little sideways himself. I had moved to the outside of Bloom to pass him coming out of turn four. I think Jeff was watching Baumgartner and Whited at the bottom and didn’t see me outside of him. He then moved up and I hopped his wheel. Like I said, nobody’s fault, just a racing thing.

As far as the car, unfortunately she’s done. She received some heavy damage to the cage as it hit the track. Everything held up that needed to, but she will never see a race track again.

And unfortunately, that means I’m done too. I have a good job and make a decent living, but a new chassis and all of the other assorted parts that go with it just aren’t in the cards right now. About all I have is a good motor (I hope, I haven’t tore it down yet) and a good steering gear (again, I hope).

I’m 1/3 owner (with Chad and Jim) in a Maxim dirt sprint car and I might run it a few times this summer. And I feel bad I’m going to miss the HOSS race at my home track of Plymouth Speedway this Friday, but that is the chance you take.

Thanks to everyone again for your kind words. I just need to find a better way to get all of this attention!

Tom Paterson

[oljonesy]

so sorry to hear that news. good luck in your future endeavors.

[Tony Barhorst]

Tom,

This is ironic as the Bloom car was really mishandling...he may have been one of the 2 or three cars racer 45 was talking about the other day. This is not a slam on him or his team, just an observation. A friend of mine thought racer 45 was talking about mishandling cars the other day.

Thanks for your insight. We appreciate your comments here. It was great to see you make the Little 500..it added to our interest. Sorry about the car...stay positive.

Best,
Tony Barhorst