Jason Sides’ hauler was hit by a drunk driver while traveling on the World of Outlaws Sprint Car tour.
Since then, the longtime driver in the series has spent his days collecting receipts, filing insurance claims, and repairing the hauler so that he could make it back on to the track.
He said his first race back, on Thursday at 34 Raceway in Burlington, felt like a vacation.
“We’ve worked a solid 7 a.m.-9 or 10 p.m. every day (since then),” Sides said at the track on Thursday. “Just getting out here feels like a vacation.”
The accident happened on his team’s way to Pennsylvania for the World of Outlaws’ start in the region on May 12.
Sides was driving the hauler when it happened, and him and his team were forced to go off the tour while they got things fixed.
We’ll be missing @SidesMotorsport this week.
On his way to Pennsylvania, the hauler was hit and sustained severe damage.
He’ll receive 75 extenuating circumstances points in both drivers & owner championship. pic.twitter.com/hgbTxZqQBN
— World of Outlaws (@WorldofOutlaws) May 12, 2021
The accident damaged both the hauler and Sides’ car.
It did enough damage to the point where Sides considered renting a smaller trailer or buying a new one.
“We talked about just renting a smaller trailer and going racing, but when you’re used to have everything you’ve got and you need – you can’t put that in a smaller trailer and go,” Sides said.
They weren’t able to find much, and in the end – just took all of four or five weeks repairing and preparing stuff to come back on to the toughest national sprint car tour there is.
“We waited around for a week or two before they would even get to us,” Sides said. “By that time, we kind of started working on it and getting the back door off of it. It just took that long to take the thing apart and get it back together.”
Thursday night at Burlington was his first time back on track since.
For a guy like Sides, he was just excited to going back to what he knows best.
“I’ve got receipts out the ying yang. I don’t even know what it’s cost yet. Luckily, I’ve got a brother back home that takes care of a lot of stuff for me.”
He came home 17th in the feature race on Thursday, but it was probably more important to see the No. 7S back, no matter the result.
“It was good,” Sides said. “Just to get back in the car was good.”
