By Rick Houston
One moment, Shane Hmiel was hurtling down the backstretch at Indiana’s Terre Haute Action Track and gathering speed for his USCAC Silver Crown qualifying lap. The next, he was fighting for his life.
The turn-three accident left him paralyzed, and his family struggling to cope with an entirely new and difficult way of life. Steve Hmiel, Shane’s father and a longtime fixture in the NASCAR garage, tried in vain to coax himself into believing his son’s journey back as a driver would be a short and relatively easy one.
It wasn’t.
Steve’s attention was understandably divided between work at Chip Ganassi Racing and his son’s fight for survival. When the team’s on-track performance suffered, he felt it was his fault. Eventually, he was fired and he hasn’t worked in the sport since.
This is Steve’s story.
For more than 32 years, Grand National/Winston Cup/NASCAR Scene writers and photographers were there to record NASCAR history as it was being made. Join hosts Rick Houston and Steve Waid each week on The Scene Vault Podcast Presented by Q Ware as they take a look back at the extraordinary people, places and events woven into the rich tapestry that is our sport.
To hear the entire podcast, visit The Scene Vault on iTunes.
To watch the complete interview, visit The Scene Vault YouTube channel.
Fore more on the Scene Vault, check them out on Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube.
You can further support their efforts at Patreon.