On Friday, Shane Hmiel, 32, the only driver banned for life under NASCAR’s substance-abuse policy and paralyzed since a devastating sprint car crash in October 2010, was allowed by NASCAR into the Atlanta Motor Speedway garage and pit road as the guest of Camping World Truck Series team owner Billy Ballew. ‘Today is one of the biggest days in my life and my career,’ Hmiel said in an interview with Sporting News on pit road during Friday night’s truck race. ‘For one, I embarrassed the hell out of my family. And for two, I straightened up enough to where NASCAR will let me be back in a great sport like auto racing. Being at the racetrack, watching this truck race is better than winning a race.’ Hmiel’s return to the NASCAR garage was an emotional one as a steady stream of well-wishers visited him as he watched the truck race. It marked the first time many had seen him since his crash Oct. 9, 2010, at The Terre Haute (Ind.) Action Track, where his USAC Silver Crown car flipped and the top of the car which had a roll cage but no roof hit the track’s concrete wall. Battling for his life with a bruised spine, a head injury, a broken shoulder and collapsed lungs before suffering pneumonia and other complications, Hmiel has limited use of his arms but has feeling in all his limbs. Said Hmiel, ‘It’s great to see people that you haven ‘t seen in years. It’s been seven years since I ‘ve been in a NASCAR garage. I ‘m just very thankful that everybody at NASCAR let me come have a good weekend.’(see full story at the Sporting News and see more info about Shane on his Facebook page)(9-2-2012)
