Hi everyone!

          First, there are many people I have to thank because without some of them, I might not be in as good condition as I am right now.  The first group of people I would like to thank is the safety crew at Grays Harbor.  They are simply the best.  They took great care of me when I was out of the car.  I bet I remember every question they asked me.  Everything from my age, birth, capital of Washington, where I was at…Jonathan from the ambulance was even asking me about my favorite band on the way to the hospital.  Next I have to thank the fans and everyone that has called and sent emails.  It puts a smile on my face when I read them.  I was surprised to see how many emails and phone calls there were.  It’s nice to talk to people and know they are worried about me.  Everyone can still send me emails!  Even when I’m not hurt!

          Next I would like to thank my crew.  For a group of old guys (lol – just kidding) you guys can sure run fast.  I’ve never seen my dad jump that high of fence in that amount of time!  You can watch the video, and he is jumping the fence, and sliding like a pro baseball player to see if I was okay.  Marshall, thanks for the burgers that night.  I didn’t get to finish mine all the way because I had to get ready to sign autographs!  But, you are the best BBQ’er alive!  Rob, you are simply the best car wash dude out there.  Car is always lookin’ nice but there is not much left of this one to wash! LOL.  And it’s always good to talk with you!  I also have to thank my best friend Chris.  He’s one of my best friends from school, and he decided he wanted to help out this weekend.  He had to work Sunday morning, but he said NO WAY! He stayed with my dad the whole time, and that’s awesome.  That was his second or third sprint car race, but his first time seeing me race.  Jim has been taking it easy!   He had to go through some serious surgery not too long ago, and the doctors are keeping him locked up in his house!   Tell them we want you back Jim!

          Part of the deal of my racing, is that I have to buy my own safety gear.  I really have to thank all my safety gear products.  Honestly, I don’t think I could thank each and every one of them enough.  While thousands and thousands of sprint car drivers across the country are racing on any given night, I’m not sure many of them think about how much trust they have to put into their safety gear.  My crash was bad because of the sudden stop it had.  It did not roll like most sprint car crashes happen, it stopped, and that’s the bad part about it.  I have always worn a HANS, and now, don’t think I’ll be switching to anything else.  This year, I invested in a Simpson carbon fiber helmet.  The helmet is VERY light, and when you’re runnin’ over a 100MPH, you can really tell the difference.  I’m so glad I was running it that night.  We’re going to send the helmet into them, and see what they think of it after the crash.  There are some things on the top of the helmet.  Not sure exactly what.  But they’ll get it taken care of for me!

          Next company is Hooker Harness.  Most of their product line is for airplane, boats, and monster trucks.  But they do have a sprint car product line.  They have this cool ratchet tightening lap belt design, and seriously, my sister could cut me in half with it!  I’m sure she would even try to do it too! But, Scott at Hooker Harness has been helping me since I started racing sprint cars, and the belts kept me in the same spot the whole time.  They even have our favorite color in stock!  Blue!

          Next, ButlerBuilt seats.  What can you say about them after you have ran them?  They are very comfortable!  Even though I keep getting taller, it still feels good! The seat did not even take a hit.  The A-Frame behind my seat is bent forward some, but the seat itself is fine.   I also have to thank Maxim Chassis.  I took a wild hit…and the cockpit did what it was supposed to do. It didn’t collapse on me.  And I can’t thank all the guys at Maxim Chassis enough!

         Now, and I know this is getting long, but my fingers aren’t tired yet!  I really have to thank the support my family has given me.   My sister is amazing.  She had tears in her eyes when she got to the hospital…I felt so sad.  I gave her a hug though, and told her I was okay. There is kind of a funny story with my mom, and not many people know about it.  But back when I was racing quarter midgets, sitting in the stands watching sprint car races, and every time we saw a wreck, she would turn to me and say, “You’re not doin’ that!”  I would always just smile at her and tell her Yes I am!  Anyways, yesterday, she was on the couch watching some show, and I went up to her and said, “I told you I was doing that!”  She just laughed and said whatever, but it has always been a fun joke with me and her.  But it was good knowing she was riding to the hospital with me, but they wouldn’t let her sit in the back with me.  It felt good talkin’ to Jonathan about my favorite band, and not about racing.  Finally, my dad.  I still can’t figure out how you ran so fast.  You should enter into a marathon or something.  Or high jump competitions!  Just kidding.  But I really do appreciate everything you and mom and have done for me.  Oh, and one more thing.  Happy Birthday!  It wasn’t supposed to be planned like that.  Hey, I was going to give you the day off Sunday on cleaning the fuel system!  I love you guys a lot.

I remember everything that happened and we even got to laugh a little about some things.  My dad asked me what I was thinking when everything finally stopped, and I said I was looking out the left side of the car and saw the left front tire sitting on my header and thought that’s not supposed to be there!  We watched the video a few times and then we noticed all of the small pieces coming down like confetti.  We laughed about that later too.  I’m sorry for Austen Wheatley, and hope he is OK too.  I saw everything unfolding and tried to avoid him, but it was too late and I just held on.  

         As it stands now, it looks like we are finished for the rest of the season.  Our only motor we had got damaged, and that’s a huge bummer for everyone.  We have a spare car, so that really isn’t the issue.  Even if the motor was not hurt, and we had the car ready to go for this weekend, I would still choose not to race.  I’m not 100% yet, and I will give as much time as I need to be prepared to jump back in it.  No matter how long it takes, I’m willing to wait.  Even though it’s really hard to do that!  LOL!  I still want to be at the track though.  Just walking around and watching and learning how people do stuff.

         Again, I can’t thank everyone who has called or emailed enough.  I’m used to calling my sponsors or people to order parts, and this week they were calling me to see if I was OK and that’s pretty cool.  BF at Kaedings Performance, thank you so much for your phone call.  It felt good to talk with you about everything.  And John Santomauro, you are one funny guy.  I’ll have a joke for you next week!  I have heard from many people including some I have never met and they wrote how concerned they were.  The dentist from Enumclaw and his family, and even a guy who said his son has my picture hanging next to his bed and I’m his hero.  That feels really, really nice.  I have not talked with Jay Cole yet about what happened but we’ll get a chance to talk.  It’s really cool to know that there are people out there that will send you an email or call you and just make sure you’re doing okay, and I know I have a lot of friends after something like this happens.  

          I’m still just a bit sore.  My neck mostly.  My arms and legs and even my knee is feeling better.  I’m not scared to get back in the race car.  I’m not scared of the wreck and how it happened.  I was never really nervous or scared.  I remember everything that happened, even losing my vision for that amount of time.  I could talk, just not see! What kind of caught my attention was at the hospital when I vomited for the 2nd time and wasn’t sure what was happening.  My dad said don’t worry about it…and so I didn’t.  I hope everyone stayed awake reading this!  LOL!  Head injuries are pretty serious, but I tried to make it fun to read.  Thanks for reading!  And see ya at the track!

-TJ Hartman