Historical Motorsports Stories writes:

"The Miraculous Survival of Stanley Smith"

Posted by nascarman on February 9, 2017

Viewed 11212 times Tweet There are only a few men in racing to survive a basilar skull fracture. Larry Pollard did in 1988, Rick Carelli did in 1999, and sandwiched in the middle was Stanley Smith in 1993. An unofficial member of the Alabama Gang, Smith was a man who owned a drywall business in his hometown and raced productively in the highest level of NASCAR. Along the way, his racing gave birth to a smattering of talented mechanics who remain in racing today. But most of all, Stanley Smith's recovery from near-death was a tale of survival against all odds.







Stanley Smith started his racing career like many other drivers, on the short tracks of Alabama. He moved up to NASCAR's All-American Challenge late model division in the mid-80s. Looking for more success, Stanley convinced Phillipe Lopez to drop out of Texas A&M and join his race team. With Lopez working on the cars, Smith started winning All-American races. Together they won the series championship in 1989. In 1990, Smith attempted to qualify for the Winston 500 at Talladega in May. In his first Cup effort, Smith wrecked in qualifying and had to withdraw. He returned to the superspeedway in July and qualified a shocking 12th for his first race. However, Smith spun on pit road and hit four crewmen from Tracy Leslie's team. They were all released from the hospital that afternoon, but Smith refused to finish the race.



In 1991, Smith and Lopez made the jump to Winston Cup with his own team and sponsorship from Interstate Batteries. They ran a part time schedule, only on tracks over one mile in length. To build his team, Smith needed employees and he had a knack for finding talent. One of his hirings was Chad Knaus who served as mechanic and fabricator for the team. In 12 races, Smith had a best finish of 21st at Talladega and an ARCA win at Michigan. The next year, Smith ran 14 races, finishing 22nd in the Daytona 500. As an unnofficial Alabama Gang member, he was touched by the passing of Clifford Allison and was one of the drivers who attended his funeral. In 1993, Smith lost his sponsorship and cut back to an even lesser schedule. Chad Knaus left for Hendrick Motorsports and joined the new Jeff Gordon team prior to 1993. With less success, Stanley missed the field for six races before finally making one, the Diehard 500 at Smith's home track.



The 1993 Diehard 500 was arguably the most tumultuous event for Alabama racing. Neil Bonnett was making his comeback after three years but the events were marred by Davey Allison's passing less than two weeks earlier. Amidst a depressed mood, the race would nearly claim another Alabamian.



On Thursday, Stanley Smith stood in for Shawna Robinson to qualify her Busch car. Robinson's father had suffered a stroke the year before and was ill that week. Stanley completed one qualifying lap at 181.794 mph, 38th quickest before overheating problems ended the run.



"The water temperature was at 250 degrees when we took the white flag and I knew it wouldn't make another lap." Shawna arrived at Talladega that evening and requalified the car on Friday, this time going half a mile per hour slower and qualifying 40th for the race. On the Cup side, Stanley qualified his car at 187.813 mph on the second day day of time trials, fast enough for 35th.





Stanley Smith's Car 1993 Diehard 500



The race action itself was some of the most eventful in the past 30 years. On lap 56, Robby Gordon brought out the first caution when he wrecked in the tri-oval after clipping the apron trying to squeeze under Smith and Sterling Marlin. Stanley was a lap down at that point, but still relatively quick.



A few laps after the restart, Smith would be at the start of a terrible wreck. As the pack of cars entered turn one, Kenny Wallace squeezed up in front of Smith. Wallace hit the outside wall and spun backwards against it. Smith spun across the track, down to the inside, striking Jimmy Horton and sending him tumbling. After hitting Horton, Smith spun back into the outside wall, hitting head-on and dragging Ritchie Petty and Rick Mast with him. As Horton flipped over the wall and landed on an access road, Smith's car skid to a stop on the apron. The severity of the situation could be seen on a track worker who first reached Smith's car. With CBS focused on him, the worker slowly reached into the car before quickly removing his hand, a mixture of panic and disgust coming over him upon sight of Smith bleeding profusely. The satellite feed version of the telecast was even more frightening. While at commercial, CBS cameras focused on the driver laying unconscious on the asphalt. His white uniform, stained with blood down to his knees.









Crash Sequence. Photos courtesy of Sam Sharpe / Winston Cup Illustrated



Smith was airlifted to Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham, the same hospital Davey Allison passed away at 12 days prior. He was diagnosed with a basilar skull fracture and a severed aorta in his neck, the reason for his massive blood loss. He remained in a coma state for days, clinging to life.



To make matters more difficult for the family, Stanley's daughter Autumn was Miss Teen Alabama at the time and the Miss Teen USA competition was to be held on August 10th. Her duties meant she had to leave her father's hospital bed two days after his accident to take part in the preparations for the pageant in Biloxi, Mississippi.





Autumn Smith in Miss Teen USA 1993



"It was real difficult," Autumn said at the time. "I want to be (in Biloxi), but I didn't want to leave. I knew he wanted me to come down here. He was excited about it. I'm doing it for him." Back in Alabama, her father was making a tremendous recovery considering his injuries. Just a week after the accident, Smith was upgraded from critical to guarded condition with paralysis on his right side.



"He is conscious right now," hospital spokesman David Smitherman said. "He understands what happened and where he is. He's been up and even out of the bed a little bit over the weekend. He still has some paralysis, and the therapists are continuing to work with him on that." While he was hospitalized, Smith was visited five times by Bobby Allison, twice when he was in a coma. Imagine the strength it took for Bobby to visit him that many times, returing to the hospital his son died in two weeks earlier to visit a friend.



Stanley went home from the hospital in the first week of September. He was now walking around with the aid of a walker, still having slight paralysis on his right side. He faced more surgery to correct the nerve damage he suffered in the accident. Smith never recovered full vision in his left eye, remaining today with limited peripheral vision. But it was miraculous he survived and kept his love of racing. Five months later, he returned to NASCAR at Daytona for Speedweeks and was making preparations for his comeback race, hoping to return in the Diehard 500, one year after his accident.



On the morning of February 11, 1994, Smith bumped into Neil Bonnett at the Daytona Beach Krispy Kreme and they had breakfast together.



"I ran into (Neil) at a local donut shop and was cutting up with him about running again and he wanting me to run again," Smith remembered. "He told me, 'I've got to do what I feel like I've got to do.'" Neil and Stanley were much alike, two drivers triumphing over bodily harm to return to their former glory. Fallen heroes plotting their returns to the spotlight.



At around 12:30 pm that afternoon, Bonnett wrecked in turn four. He was brought to Halifax Hospital where he passed away at 1:17. Bonnett was one more Alabama driver to die, causing the remaining Alabama Gang members to be spooked. Jimmy Means pulled out of the Daytona 500 and announced his retirement before the Twin 125s. Smith changed his mind about a comeback.



"It made me second-guess everything, seeing what (Bonnett's) family had to go through," Smith said. "I know my family has already been through a lot and to ask them to maybe go through it, I don't know if it's worth it or not."



"I really don't need to race again. In my mind, I know it would be foolish. You don't come that close to death and get to do it again. But it's kind of like being an addict. Even though they know it's not good for them, they go out and do it again. If I could just find something to pacify me, I think I could walk away." But golfing, fishing, and water-skiing couldn't pacify him and Stanley returned to racing in 2001 in the All Pro Series. Finally in 2004, 54 year-old Smith won at Kentucky, returning to victory lane and completing his comeback.



Smith officially called it quits after the 2008 Snowball Derby. He may not be well known to NASCAR fans beyond his accident but his influence remains today. Chad Knaus won seven Cup Championships as a crew chief after starting out with Stanley. And Smith is another example of an individual's determination to fight through serious injuries and return to his passion.



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