Off Roading Arizona NASCAR Style

An interesting story behind the story of Tony Stewart's back injury that will keep him out of the Daytona 500, other early NASCAR races, and perhaps the season. The group of buggy's he was running with included several big NASCAR names, along with Ray Evernham, Don Prudhomme and Ron Pratte. Yep, the Ron Pratte that sold his huge collection at Barrett Jackson a while back to go play in the sand with high performance dune buggy's. According to Prudhomme, Tony bottomed out the suspension on his buggy, and when they found him Ray Evernham took charge and they transported him back to Pratte's nearby home where Pratte's helicopter took Ray & Tony to the hospital. Some major news outlets report "...an ATV accident", which is like comparing a Harley to a push scooter. The buggy's they were running do 80 to 100mph over the dunes.

Talk about big boys and their toys! Tony was running with the big dogs, as you'd expect, and big $$$$ guy Ron Pratte was right there with them.

Sad to say, this stuff will catch up with you sooner or later, unless you live a very charmed life. It is a testament to the general ruggedness of the human body, and the strength and stamina, and physical conditioning of these guys that some of them persevere and survive into their middle years before starting to wear out. I hope he recovers well and can continue his vocation without too much trouble.

Not even close to what these guys were doing, but I used to go "wandering about" in the greater Mojave and Sonoran Deserts a lot in my youth, and even now, from time to time, and after a day of romping over hill and dale, dry wash and rock field, I hurt, no matter how easy and careful I try to be.

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