In an ideal world, Davey Hamilton Jr. could be getting ready to race for the Stadium Tremendous Vans championship because the 2023 season approaches. Sadly, spinal accidents have made even a return of any kind unimaginable.
Hamilton was the featured visitor within the newest episode of the ThrillCast, a podcast hosted by SST veteran Invoice Hynes, that went reside Thursday. When requested about doubtlessly coming again, Hamilton rapidly shot down any chance resulting from a historical past of accidents immediately associated to the impacts that the vans file upon touchdown after ramps.
A lot of the interview surrounded the dangers that include racing, particularly in open-wheel racing the place Hamilton’s father and SST alumnus Davey Sr. suffered critical leg accidents in a 2001 crash that halted his profession for years. The youthful Hamilton additionally sustained accidents of his personal, recalling feeling again ache following his SST debut on the 2017 Grand Prix of St. Petersburg which culminated in a T4 spinal fracture after crashing within the King of the Wing dash automotive sequence at Irwindale Speedway.
Hamilton continued to race in SST and what’s now Indy NXT on a part-time foundation in 2018 earlier than private issues put his profession on pause. He committed to the full SST schedule in 2022 however needed to again out after re-aggravating the spinal injury within the opener at Lengthy Seashore, the place he completed eighth in each races. Since then, he has continued racing in pavement dash automobiles and scored essentially the most wins amongst all drivers within the self-discipline in 2022, together with the Southern Dash Automobile Shootout Sequence championship and a win streak starting that October which nonetheless continues right this moment.
For 2023, he’ll part-time within the Should See Racing Dash Sequence.
“There’s simply no probability,” Hamilton informed Hynes. “I really like Stadium Tremendous Truck racing. I’d do it full time, I wish to win a race at some point, however… 2017 I broke my again at St. Pete and we didn’t know I broke my again. You know the way these vans, while you land, in case you land flawed, it shoots up your backbone and I simply landed flawed and I continued racing all yr with again ache and I simply by no means went and seen a physician. Thankfully and never thankfully, I bought in a very unhealthy dash automotive wreck in a while within the yr, and I broke a rib, had a concussion, and so they discovered that my T4, my backbone was fractured but it surely wasn’t new. […] We decided it was from St. Pete.
“This previous yr, racing at Lengthy Seashore within the vans, identical freaking factor. Landed flawed and immediately was the very same ache. Went to the medical doctors—the IndyCar medical doctors, they’re the most effective on this planet, I believe—and so they principally mentioned in case you take one other hit like that, it may very well be unhealthy information on your profession. You is probably not racing once more, if not strolling once more. I had to have a look at that as, ‘Okay, no extra leaping for me. Depend me out on that. No extra leaping, no extra compression.’”
Hynes empathised as he recalled his maiden sequence begin at Toronto in 2014 when a touchdown affected his tailbone to the purpose the place he bought a hemorrhoid foam cushion to pad his seating for the jumps, explaining that the cushion absorbed the touchdown’s vitality as a substitute of sending it his backbone. Hamilton pitched moulded seats akin to open-wheel automobiles to cut back the dangers, although Hynes famous such seats are tougher and instructed a “hybrid mould” with foam that might “hug” the driving force to maintain them nonetheless for sudden actions.
Each additionally mentioned instances of SST driver accidents akin to Matt Mingay‘s near-fatal accident at Detroit in 2016 and 1996 CART champion Jimmy Vasser calling off his 2013 Toronto entry after a poor touchdown brought about him to harm his again; by the way, he was changed by Davey Hamilton Sr. for the weekend.
“Individuals are at all times coming as much as me like, ‘Man, does it damage?’ or ‘These issues seem like you’re simply touchdown on pillows and it’s so mushy,’ and I’m like, ‘You guys don’t perceive. You get thrown round,’” Hamilton quipped.
The 2023 SST season begins at Long Beach on 14–16 April.
