Longtime Tri-City Speedway employee Bob Lienemann suffered serious injuries Thursday when he was run over by a tractor at the Granite City, Ill., racetrack. According to Lienemann’s son Dan, the 74-year-old Granite City native was airlifted to Saint Louis University Hospital where he remains in critical condition.

Along with Lienemann's three spinal fractures, multiple broken ribs, a broken left arm and a compound fracture of his left angle, doctors discovered complications with his heart including a hole in his aorta and a nearby blood clot, his son said. Tractor tire marks were found on his face.

“Right now, doctors are afraid to do any kind of surgery because they don’t think his heart is gonna be able to handle it," Dan Lienemann said. "His blood pressure just won’t stay up. I guess that’s because of the hole in the aorta there. The spine doctors are afraid for them to work on the heart because if they move him around too much it could paralyze him. So it’s just a mess right now.”

The accident happened when Lienemann was preparing the track surface for Tri-City's B-mod Bash, originally scheduled for Oct. 27-29.

"The tractor went into gear while he was off of it and he was next to it and it actually just ran over him,” Dan Lienemann said Friday morning. “It was the big dual wheel tractor. It ran over him and then got hung up on one of the big white tires (in the infield). That’s what stopped it, but the tires were still spinning.

“He had to pull himself out from it. He tried to call my mom and it looks like he tried to call 911.”

Dan Lienemann said his father next tried to call Tri-City co-owner Kevin Gundaker, but the connection failed. When Gundaker tried to return the call with no response, he sent someone to the track to check on his longtime employee.

Bob Lienemann has worked at Tri-City since 1989 and has helped owners Kevin and Tammy Gundaker prepare the track’s surface for all 19 years the Gundakers have operated the track. He’s also played an integral role in construction of the fifth-mile temporary dirt oval inside the Dome at America’s Center, host of the annual Gateway Dirt Nationals since 2016.

Along with a statement on Tri-City’s Facebook page urging people to “keep Bob in your prayers," the track postponed the B-Mod Bash until Nov. 10-12 because of the medical emergency.