Joey Payne On The Mend After NEMA Crash at Stafford
Car Destroyed, But The Joie Of Seating Seat Helps "The Jersey
Jet" Survive
"I wound up going to the shop to
see it before they cut it up. There is no doubt in my that if
i had that shitty kirkey seat in the car i wouldn't have survived.
The pictures show how much i moved the left side shoulder support.
you can see the seat bent around the cage support."
Those are the words of NEMA Midget driver
Joey "The Jersey
Jet" Payne after surviving a horrific crash in the NEMA event
at Stafford MotorSpeedway (CT) on July 3rd. The rear axle snapped
off his car, sending him hard into the backstretch wall. The car
was destroyed, but all of the safety apparatus, like his Joie of
Seating Sprint seat, did their job. Of course, as Payne admits
below, more safety precatuions could have been taken before he
jumped behind the wheel. Payne received a severe concussion and
several arm and leg injuries, but he is currently recuperating
at home in New Jersey and plans to race again soon. Here's an update
on Payne's crash and his subsequent recovery.
Joey Payne is recuperating at his home in Fairlawn, NJ after a
devastating wreck at Stafford Motor Speedway on Tuesday, July 11,
2006 in the Northeastern Midget Association feature during Xtreme
Tuesday presented by CARQUEST. The veteran racer sustained a severe
concussion and injuries to his arms and legs when the rear axle
sheared off his racer sending him careening into the outside wall.
“I’m doing okay,” said Payne on Monday. “My
knee and shoulder hurt quite a bit. My knee is really swollen and
my shoulder is severely bruised. But my head is better, that is
the good thing. It was a hard shot for sure.”
A “hard shot” might be the understatement of the season.
It is believed that Payne was traveling at speeds in excess of
110 miles per hour in the open-cockpit Midget when the crash occurred.
During the impact both Payne’s head and shoulder made contact
with the outside retaining wall.
Payne was transported to Johnson Medical Center and then airlifted
to Hartford (CT) Hospital, where he spent the night. He remembers
little about the accident.
“I knew something broke and the next thing I remember was
bang… I think the bang was my helmet hitting the wall.” His
helmet is broken in two places. Payne, who owns a Safety Solution
R-3 head restraint, admittedly in poor judgment, was not wearing
it at the time of the accident.
“When I do come back, I will surely make some changes to
my safety equipment. I will definitely be wearing my Safety Solution
R-3 from now on. It is a great device and I should have been wearing
it. I will have it on next time I race and every time after that,” added
Payne wisely.
All other safety precautions were in place. “Everything
did what it was supposed to do,” continued Payne of his equipment. “I
have to thank Gene and Marilyn Angelillo for spending their money
to keep me safe in their racecar. No other car in NEMA has a Joie
of Seating seat. It is the Cadillac of seats. It saved my life.”
Unfortunately for Payne and his owners, the Angelillo’s the
car is a total loss.
“I went to see it (the car) the other day,” said Payne, “I
walked in and said ‘Wow, I can’t believe I survived this’.” Despite
the severity of the incident, Joey Payne will be back behind the
wheel as soon as possible. “I am not giving up,” said
the diehard racer. “It would take a lot more than that to make
me want to stop racing. Racing is my life. I have been doing it my
whole life. I don’t want to go out like that. To go out like
that just would not be right.”(click pic for enlarged view) 
