Take a good look at Jenn on the turbo busa at the Texas Mile. This is the only picture of the busa in action before it crashed! Looks good, huh?!
We were excited and anxious - Roger had worked on that turbo busa for months - night after night out there in that shop, week after week. Well, sometimes things just don't quite go as planned.
We arrived at the Texas Mile in Goliad on a Friday afternoon. The place was packed with exotic cars, speed racers, motorcycles, landspeed bikes, Vettes, Mustangs...you name it, it was on the Texas Mile that day. Jenn and Roger were able to get the bike through tech and loaded back into the hauler. After a restless night at the hotel, we woke early and headed back to the Mile.
Finally, after what seemed like hours, Jenn was sitting in line to make her first pass on the Mile. Roger was at her side and I was at the 1/2 mile marker across from the truck and hauler. Grandpup Chance sat anxiously at the hauler on his tether. How is it that animals always feel our anxiety?
Waiting to run : I watched through the binoculars as they made their way through the line. Finally the time had arrived and she was at the starting line.
Watching the run: There is just no good way for a mom to watch her daughter on a turbo charged Suzuki Hayabusa 1300 trying to make the thing go down the 1 mile track at over 200 mph. But watch I did...breathe - nope, that was not going to happen. I listened to the sound of the engine and strained to see the tiny speck flying down the track. It looked good; it sounded good. I heard her shift into 6th gear and thought I heard a pop. But on she went.
Sky full of dust: I'll just tell you right now that a sky full of dust on the Texas Mile is not a good thing. It began as a touch of dust a little more than a mile away from where I stood. I did not move. The dust cloud thickened and grew monstrously ominous.
Waiting: Waiting on anything is difficult, and seconds can seem like minutes or even hours. I saw the emergency crew heading toward the end of the Mile and in my mind was wondering why. Jenn had finished with her run and even though I could not see her yet, she would be riding up that return road any second. But she didn't. This is where my mind did not accept what my heart already knew. The ambulance lights flashed. Had I breathed yet?
Soon - not soon enough - I heard someone say, "She's O.K." She is alright...what does that mean?! Is she talking? Is she moving? How many bones are broken? Eventually Roger and I were told to bring the truck and hauler to the end of the Mile to pick up the bike. The bike? What about the girl?!
The ambulance approached our Ford pickup and turned in front of us before coming to a stop. We were blocked. The back doors opened and an EMT hopped out, Jenn close behind. She was holding an icepack on her left arm. After looking her over from top to bottom (and getting a look at the tumbled motorcycle) I decided that we were extremely lucky...and grateful. A broken arm - what a huge blessing!
Jenn watches as her dad once again works on the busa...night after night...but not for months this time! We are so fortunate that the damage is fixable - broken arms heal! Bent busa's can be unbent! Broken parts replaced. 
The next Texas Mile - October 2007 - she will be back!
Next drag race - San Antonio, Texas, May 2007 - coming soon to a drag strip near you, watch for her to be transformed from 9SecondJen into the new improved 8SecondJen. To be continued...
Now, just one more thing - just when is it that the mom gets to breathe again?
2 comments:
whoa, that was just terrifying! Thank God it was just an arm! Is she on the mend?
Terrifying - yes! She has another doctor appointment tomorrow to check the healing progress - as she often says (quoting the late Great Dale Earnhardt), "You win some, lose some, and wreck some."
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