Crédit photo :Don Simpson Luke Whitteker makes come back at 49th Brockville Speedway Season Opener
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With a full slate of cars in the pits, packed grandstands and beautiful weather, it was a spectacular way to kick off the 49th season at the Brockville Speedway.
For Luke Whitteker, the opening night of racing at the Brockville Speedway was also the comeback test after a terrible skiing accident, hospitalizing the young driver just weeks before the racing season.
A few days before the race, Luke tested the car hours after getting the go-ahead from doctors to return to normal activity and got rid of his back brace.
Luke found during testing that his injury did not hamper his ability to drive. The team continued to prepare for the first of the Ogilvie’s Triple Crown series 50-lap race at the Bull Ring.
With 25 Modifieds in the pits, Luke’s work was defiantly cut out for the night's race.
Photo credit: Don Simpson
Hot laps along with his heat race went well for the team, putting Luke in the second starting position in the feature race.
For the main event, Whitteker would go up against twenty-five 358 Modifieds that also took up the challenge for the first of the Ogilvie’s Triple Crown series 50-lap race, a series synonymies to Brockville Speedway. In the end, Luke Whitteker came out on top after a nail-biter race. On lap forty, Luke had worked his way alongside race lead Danny O'Brien, who until then dominated the race. Both raced the last ten laps side by side when Luke, in the 38 special, pulled ahead on the last lap to take the checkered. Quite an accomplishment if you consider less the fifteen weeks ago, Luke was in the hospital with 5 fractured vertebrae, 9 broken ribs, broken shoulder, shoulder blade, collarbone and a punctured lung, all sustained in a skiing accident.
Photo credit: Don Simpson
I asked Luke about his race and how lucky he was to even compete considering the severity of his accident a weeks earlier. “My skiing accident happened January 26 and I had come around after surgery, I was laying in bed. I had my parents and Taya beside me. Pretty much the first thing I said was ‘I'm probably not racing again am I?’ I really didn't think I'd make the recovery this fast. Just crazy. I had friends and family visit me to cheer me up and give me hope. I even had Yves LaFrance come and visit me multiple times just to talk racing and compare injuries. That was such a great thing.”
“It was about mid-February and I decided I was going to do everything I could to make a comeback. I started walking 5 kilometers a day with my grandfather and getting out. I was pretty limited with my back brace so it wasn't a pretty sight. I kept getting a little better every day. I sat in the shop and watched the guys assemble the new car. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to drive it but we put it all together.”
“Last night was a storybook comeback. It's the stuff you read about in fiction novels or see in movies. It's a pretty incredible feeling. I wouldn't be here continuing to race if it wasn't for great support from my mom and dad, Taya, my grandparents, my crew, my friends, and family.”
With Luke primarily racing at his home track at the Brockville Speedway this year, but for a few special events, he has set the bar high for where he wants to be and what the rest of the weekly field of drivers can expect out of this young hard charging driver.
It was definitely a great start to the season at Brockville Speedway and this was just the first, of many great shows slated for 2018. For Luke, a bit of relief knowing that he still capable of racing in the sport he truly loves.
Photo credit: Don Simpson
Photo credit: Don Simpson
Hot laps along with his heat race went well for the team, putting Luke in the second starting position in the feature race.
For the main event, Whitteker would go up against twenty-five 358 Modifieds that also took up the challenge for the first of the Ogilvie’s Triple Crown series 50-lap race, a series synonymies to Brockville Speedway. In the end, Luke Whitteker came out on top after a nail-biter race. On lap forty, Luke had worked his way alongside race lead Danny O'Brien, who until then dominated the race. Both raced the last ten laps side by side when Luke, in the 38 special, pulled ahead on the last lap to take the checkered. Quite an accomplishment if you consider less the fifteen weeks ago, Luke was in the hospital with 5 fractured vertebrae, 9 broken ribs, broken shoulder, shoulder blade, collarbone and a punctured lung, all sustained in a skiing accident.
Photo credit: Don Simpson
I asked Luke about his race and how lucky he was to even compete considering the severity of his accident a weeks earlier. “My skiing accident happened January 26 and I had come around after surgery, I was laying in bed. I had my parents and Taya beside me. Pretty much the first thing I said was ‘I'm probably not racing again am I?’ I really didn't think I'd make the recovery this fast. Just crazy. I had friends and family visit me to cheer me up and give me hope. I even had Yves LaFrance come and visit me multiple times just to talk racing and compare injuries. That was such a great thing.”
“It was about mid-February and I decided I was going to do everything I could to make a comeback. I started walking 5 kilometers a day with my grandfather and getting out. I was pretty limited with my back brace so it wasn't a pretty sight. I kept getting a little better every day. I sat in the shop and watched the guys assemble the new car. I wasn't sure if I was ever going to drive it but we put it all together.”
“Last night was a storybook comeback. It's the stuff you read about in fiction novels or see in movies. It's a pretty incredible feeling. I wouldn't be here continuing to race if it wasn't for great support from my mom and dad, Taya, my grandparents, my crew, my friends, and family.”
With Luke primarily racing at his home track at the Brockville Speedway this year, but for a few special events, he has set the bar high for where he wants to be and what the rest of the weekly field of drivers can expect out of this young hard charging driver.
It was definitely a great start to the season at Brockville Speedway and this was just the first, of many great shows slated for 2018. For Luke, a bit of relief knowing that he still capable of racing in the sport he truly loves.
Photo credit: Don Simpson