Again credit to [email protected]
Renshaw will return to racing, keep climbing back after tragedy
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Deborah Renshaw lives every day with something she can't remember.
Since Oct. 9, she's worked through hours and hours of physical
rehabilitation. Renshaw also has had to climb out of what she calls the
hole she fell in emotionally after the worst day of her life in
automobile racing.
During practice for an Automobile Racing Club of America race at Lowe's
Motor Speedway, driver Eric Martin's car spun and hit the wall off Turn
4 at the Charlotte track. Several cars avoided hitting him and Martin
radioed to his crew that he was OK.
When Martin's spin started, Renshaw's car was somewhere on the
backstretch of the 1.5-mile track. Bob Schacht, her team owner, was
spotting for her on top of the trailer in the infield. As Martin's car
came to rest off the wall, Renshaw's came through the turns 3 and 4 end
of the track. Renshaw's car slammed into the driver's side of Martin's
car, killing the 33-year-old driver from Hixson, Tenn.
Renshaw, who suffered broken bones in her left leg and foot in the
crash, knows only what she's been told about the crash.
"It's very much still a blessing," she says. "God has a way of helping
you forget tragic things in your life."
But Renshaw has confronted the awful truth of that day.
Late last year, she and Schacht came back to Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"I went around the race track with Bob and we replayed that day in our
heads," Renshaw said. "We relived it and that helped. It helped to face
what happened.
“Bob and I have had conversations about it several times. Bob was right
there with me when it happened, He wasn't driving the car, but he was
right there with me."
After the crash, NASCAR changed its rules regarding practice sessions
and now requires teams to have spotters in a track's spotters' stand
when cars are on the track
It took weeks before Renshaw could bring herself to go to her computer
and read reports about the accident. Some questioned whether Renshaw and
Martin had enough experience to be racing at the kind of speeds their
cars could reach at the Charlotte track. In the search for answers
following the crash, fingers of blame were pointed.
Renshaw admits she had questions of her own.
"I've questioned what my fate in racing would be after the accident,"
she said. "I went through the questions of whether I really want my
dream of driving a race car, whether it's worth it. And I keep coming
back to the same answer every time."
Renshaw is scheduled to race for the first time since the October crash
on Saturday at Daytona. She'll drive a car Schacht owns in an ARCA race
that will help begin Speedweeks activities leading up to Winston Cup's
Daytona 500.
"I've got two choices when I wake up in the morning," said Renshaw, who
still walks with a slight limp and continues physical therapy to rebuild
strength in her left leg. "I could feel sorry for myself and think that
today's not going to be a good day. Or, I could wake up and feel blessed
that I am able to still live my dream, to realize that I can still drive
a race car."
When the wreck happened in October, Renshaw was just more than a week
away from making her debut as driver of a NASCAR Busch series car owned
by Rick Goodwin at a track in Memphis, a precursor to a full-season ride
with that team in 2003.
In December, however, Goodwin and Renshaw agreed to go their separate
ways. Renshaw said she was grateful for the opportunity, but decided
that wasn't the road she needed to go down right now.
"I decided to stick with ARCA for the time being with Bob," she said.
"That's where I felt I could be most successful at this point."
Bob Schacht Motorsports has the money to run only two or three ARCA
events this year. Renshaw would like to add six or seven Busch races to
this year's agenda, but that depends on sponsorship. For now, Renshaw
said, the team is concentrating on Daytona, the first step back.
"There for a while, I was definitely in a little bit of a hole," Renshaw
said. "I didn't want to talk to anybody. Thank God for my family. My mom
and dad would help take phone calls and return them or keep a list. It
took them reaching down in there and grabbing me up and saying, 'Look
here, Missy, you're not going to be feeling sorry for yourself in this
family.'"
Renshaw said she has been inspired by support and encouragement she's
received from friends, from family, from fellow racers and from fans.
She's received crosses, seven-page letters and a homemade card from a
7-year-old boy.
She's exchanged letters with Martin's family. "I know one day we'll sit
down and talk about it," Renshaw said. "But it's just not the right time
now."
She doesn't remember the crash but knows that others do.
"It has been an emotional roller coaster and it still is," Renshaw said.
"It's going to be a lifelong thing I will have to deal with. I read
somewhere that one driver said that if I am going to make it I have to
forget what happened. With no disrespect for the Martin family
whatsoever, there's truth in that. You have to move forward and move on.
"I do believe that people are on a predetermined path in their lives.
You do have choices to make in weathering through any storm that comes
your way. But I do feel that at some point God will lead you in the
direction he has for you.
"In your heart you have to know you're going in the right direction at
all times and not have regrets about what you do."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Renshaw will return to racing, keep climbing back after tragedy
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
Deborah Renshaw lives every day with something she can't remember.
Since Oct. 9, she's worked through hours and hours of physical
rehabilitation. Renshaw also has had to climb out of what she calls the
hole she fell in emotionally after the worst day of her life in
automobile racing.
During practice for an Automobile Racing Club of America race at Lowe's
Motor Speedway, driver Eric Martin's car spun and hit the wall off Turn
4 at the Charlotte track. Several cars avoided hitting him and Martin
radioed to his crew that he was OK.
When Martin's spin started, Renshaw's car was somewhere on the
backstretch of the 1.5-mile track. Bob Schacht, her team owner, was
spotting for her on top of the trailer in the infield. As Martin's car
came to rest off the wall, Renshaw's came through the turns 3 and 4 end
of the track. Renshaw's car slammed into the driver's side of Martin's
car, killing the 33-year-old driver from Hixson, Tenn.
Renshaw, who suffered broken bones in her left leg and foot in the
crash, knows only what she's been told about the crash.
"It's very much still a blessing," she says. "God has a way of helping
you forget tragic things in your life."
But Renshaw has confronted the awful truth of that day.
Late last year, she and Schacht came back to Lowe's Motor Speedway.
"I went around the race track with Bob and we replayed that day in our
heads," Renshaw said. "We relived it and that helped. It helped to face
what happened.
“Bob and I have had conversations about it several times. Bob was right
there with me when it happened, He wasn't driving the car, but he was
right there with me."
After the crash, NASCAR changed its rules regarding practice sessions
and now requires teams to have spotters in a track's spotters' stand
when cars are on the track
It took weeks before Renshaw could bring herself to go to her computer
and read reports about the accident. Some questioned whether Renshaw and
Martin had enough experience to be racing at the kind of speeds their
cars could reach at the Charlotte track. In the search for answers
following the crash, fingers of blame were pointed.
Renshaw admits she had questions of her own.
"I've questioned what my fate in racing would be after the accident,"
she said. "I went through the questions of whether I really want my
dream of driving a race car, whether it's worth it. And I keep coming
back to the same answer every time."
Renshaw is scheduled to race for the first time since the October crash
on Saturday at Daytona. She'll drive a car Schacht owns in an ARCA race
that will help begin Speedweeks activities leading up to Winston Cup's
Daytona 500.
"I've got two choices when I wake up in the morning," said Renshaw, who
still walks with a slight limp and continues physical therapy to rebuild
strength in her left leg. "I could feel sorry for myself and think that
today's not going to be a good day. Or, I could wake up and feel blessed
that I am able to still live my dream, to realize that I can still drive
a race car."
When the wreck happened in October, Renshaw was just more than a week
away from making her debut as driver of a NASCAR Busch series car owned
by Rick Goodwin at a track in Memphis, a precursor to a full-season ride
with that team in 2003.
In December, however, Goodwin and Renshaw agreed to go their separate
ways. Renshaw said she was grateful for the opportunity, but decided
that wasn't the road she needed to go down right now.
"I decided to stick with ARCA for the time being with Bob," she said.
"That's where I felt I could be most successful at this point."
Bob Schacht Motorsports has the money to run only two or three ARCA
events this year. Renshaw would like to add six or seven Busch races to
this year's agenda, but that depends on sponsorship. For now, Renshaw
said, the team is concentrating on Daytona, the first step back.
"There for a while, I was definitely in a little bit of a hole," Renshaw
said. "I didn't want to talk to anybody. Thank God for my family. My mom
and dad would help take phone calls and return them or keep a list. It
took them reaching down in there and grabbing me up and saying, 'Look
here, Missy, you're not going to be feeling sorry for yourself in this
family.'"
Renshaw said she has been inspired by support and encouragement she's
received from friends, from family, from fellow racers and from fans.
She's received crosses, seven-page letters and a homemade card from a
7-year-old boy.
She's exchanged letters with Martin's family. "I know one day we'll sit
down and talk about it," Renshaw said. "But it's just not the right time
now."
She doesn't remember the crash but knows that others do.
"It has been an emotional roller coaster and it still is," Renshaw said.
"It's going to be a lifelong thing I will have to deal with. I read
somewhere that one driver said that if I am going to make it I have to
forget what happened. With no disrespect for the Martin family
whatsoever, there's truth in that. You have to move forward and move on.
"I do believe that people are on a predetermined path in their lives.
You do have choices to make in weathering through any storm that comes
your way. But I do feel that at some point God will lead you in the
direction he has for you.
"In your heart you have to know you're going in the right direction at
all times and not have regrets about what you do."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
