NHRA: Tim Freeman's Bad Day @ St. Louis
26 June 1999
CHEVROLET NOTES AND QUOTES SEARS CRAFTSMAN NATIONALS GATEWAY INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY MADISON, ILL. NHRA WINSTON DRAG RACING SERIES PRO STOCK TRUCK -- CHEVY S-10 Is There a Doctor on the Crew? If you are Tim Freeman, driver of the Bluegrass Transportation Chevy S-10, qualified in No. 4 spot, with an e.t. of 7.666 seconds at 175.43 mph, the answer is a resounding Yes, Two Times Over. Tim, of Roan Mountain, Tenn., defending event champion, not only survived a head-on collision this past weekend in his wife's Honda Civic, suffering extensive bruising, he is resting comfortably today after passing a kidney stone early this morning. He avoided a trip to the local hospital because he has two orthopedic surgeons on his crew! Dr. Phillip Surface of Charleston, W.Va., and Dr. Jeff Mutchler, from Tennessee, help Tim and his teammate Mark Osborne, in the RCL Components Chevy S-10, with the routine maintenance of their trucks. Surface has been at every Pro Stock Truck event, while Mutchler is attending his second. Surface: HOW LUCKY IS TIM TO HAVE TWO DOCTORS ON HIS CREW? "I think with this particular problem he's very fortunate because the vast majority of times this has to be treated in the emergency room. I have not heard of anyone passing a kidney stone without going to the emergency room. We were lucky I had medications with me and was able to treat him. I went to a pharmacy for more and got him better. After getting the prescription filled we took him to the First Aid station here at the track, and got him some I.V. fluids, and about that time he passed the stone. He was already banged up pretty bad from the car wreck, he's feeling pretty bad right now." "He was lucky to be alive after the accident. He's really sore, I had to treat him for muscle sprains and pains yesterday (before the kidney stone problem.)" ON HIS PROGNOSIS: "I think the prognosis for him to be able to race this weekend is excellent. I think the prognosis for him to make the first round today is pretty poor. He feels bad and is very dehydrated. A lot of people around the tracks stay dehydrated all the time and it makes them predisposed to these problems. Everyone at the race track needs to learn from this to drink a lot of fluids." WHAT DO YOU DO ON THE TEAM: "I do a little bit of everything. Mark (Osborne) and my family have been friends for 15 years, I've been around bracket racing all my life. I just pitch in and help out. This year Jim Kessinger (team owner, Kessinger Motorsports) asked me to come to all the races. What I do is help with removing the transmission, driveline, clutches. I work on the back end of the truck. With Kevin (Horst) quitting and Tommy (Lee) crew chiefing on both trucks I help him pull the driveline out and get the clutch in shape." FREEMAN: ON THE CRASH LAST SATURDAY: "It destroyed my wife's little Honda Civic. Saturday morning I was going to get one of my buddies to work on an old Corvette (in Roan Mountain, Tenn.). And this guy was going to make a left turn. I guess he was looking at a yard sale and turned right in front of me. I'm just sore, no broken bones. Just call me lucky. I spent the night in the hospital, the nurses were very nice. I'm sore, but it doesn't bother my driving any, it hasn't so far." FOLLOW-UP: Tim skipped today's first qualifying session while he rested. In the second, and final, session, he came up to the line, made his burnout, then was unable to back up to the lights, as reverse gear failed. Dr. Surface, however, had noticed that Tim had a bloody nose before the burnout and was concerned when he wasn't backing up. Once he realized it was a gear problem, and after asking Tim if he was OK (he responded yes), he was relieved. Tim, meanwhile, was unaware of the bloody nose. FREEMAN: "I feel all right now. I'm hoping to be ready tomorrow. I'll get a good night's rest, I'm a little tired, and I'll be ready. Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for me. Today hasn't been bad, I was very fortunate. I was fortunate to pass the kidney stone early today so I could make tonight's run, so it can't be too bad. I didn't even know I had the nose bleed. Things are supposed to happen in threes. This has got to be it, the last third of my bad luck."