West Liberty Raceway
Injured Iowa driver 'improving immensely'
By Todd Turner
DirtonDirt.com chief writer
Brian Harris
Standout Iowa dirt racer Brian Harris, who suffered a severe concussion and a hairline fracture of a vertebrae in a Sept. 22 accident at West Liberty (Iowa) Raceway, will need a lengthy rest and recovery period before returning to the driver's seat. But that doesn't mean Harris isn't talking racing already.
"He wanted to make sure they got a new car ordered because he's going to need a car," said Jim Groves of Iowa-Illinois Taylor Insulation, a major sponsor of the No. 21H piloted by the 28-year-old driver from Davenport, Iowa.
Harris was able to sit up for brief periods for the first time Monday as he continued "improving immensely" following the accident that left him unconscious, said Groves, who visited with Harris on Monday for about 20 minutes. Harris remained in the University of Iowa Hospital intensive care unit as of noon Monday but family members expected him to be moved to a regular room by Tuesday morning.
"His improvement in the last 24 hours has been immense," Groves said. "From yesterday, early after the accident on Sunday morning, from not knowing who he was, where he was, didn't know anybody. ... to (Sunday) mid-day responding and recognizing family members and responding to squeeze hands or hold up two fingers, to (Monday) carrying on conversations and talking. If he improves as much as he did yesterday to today (again) tomorrow, by the end of the week he's going to be in great, great shape."
While the concussion was severe, Groves reiterated that doctors didn't discover any brain injuries after several CT scans. "No swelling of the brain, no fluids, no blood, no anything," Groves said. The vertebrae fracture won't require a restrictive halo, but Harris is expected to require a neck brace or cervical collar to help the injuries heal, according to Groves and family members' messages at CarePages.com.
Harris was leading the unsanctioned Liberty 100 on Saturday night at West Liberty on the 65th lap when the accident occurred. He was attempting to overtake lapped traffic in the low groove when he spun and wrecked, striking the backstretch wall hard on the driver's side. The No. 21H was briefly airborne and the impact left a large crack on the left side of the driver's helmet.
Rescue crews cut off the top of the roll cage while Harris was slumped in the seat and a tarp covered the car as personnel worked for several minutes to stabilize Harris and remove the him. Speedway Fire Rescue personnel, West Liberty fire and ambulance crews and track personnel assisted.
The Liberty 100 continued and was won by Dave Eckrich, who was running a close second to Harris when the accident happened.
Dave Eckrich, his brother Denny and Iowa driver Chris Simpson were among drivers planning to visit the hospital, Groves said, and the family appreciated the thoughts and prayers of the racing community. The family is in "very good" spirits, Groves added.
"There's not a negative diagnosis coming out of this right now at all," Groves said. "We're still in a semi-critical state because of what happened, but the recovery is moving along very, very well."
Harris still has blips of confusion with short-term memory, but he remembers winning a heat race at West Liberty and other details of Saturday evening, said Groves, adding that he and Harris talked about racing during his visit.
"I've heard people say, 'Maybe he'll never race again.' My opinion is he will race again," Groves said. "The better he gets, the worse he's going to feel about not being able to race immediately.
One of Iowa's top dirt racers, Harris stands atop the points on the World Dirt Racing League with four races remaining. WDRL president and founder Jim Wilson is among many in the Iowa racing community asking for prayers for Harris, who has led WDRL points most of the season despite going winless.
"It could've been a lot worse," Wilson said, relieved to hear reports of the driver's improvement. "He's young and he's tough, but it's going to cost him the championship on the series this year, I'm afraid. There's just no way he can race."
Groves said family members expected Harris to be released within a few days of being moved out of ICU, but that depends on his progress.
"I think it's day-to-day," Groves said. "It just depends on how fast he comes around. If he gets up and does some physical therapy, once he starts doing that stuff, he'll be on his way." — Additional information from DirtonDirt.com correspondent Mike Ruefer
Correction: Initial versions of this story failed to list Speedway Fire Rescue crews as participating in efforts to assist Harris.
