INDIANAPOLIS — Parker Price-Miller is recovering following a vicious tumble during the opening night of the 25th annual Trophy Cup at California’s Thunderbowl Raceway.
Price-Miller plans to return to competition during the World of Outlaws World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Price-Miller flipped during single-car qualifying Oct. 18 at the third-mile dirt track, enduring a hard impact when his car landed on its rear tires. He was transported to a local hospital after complaining of back pain following the incident.
He was later released and has since returned home to Indiana to fully recuperate.
“I’m doing pretty well, all things considered,” Price-Miller told SPEED SPORT when reached by phone this week. “I’m just trying to take things easy this week and get ready to come back at full strength for the World Finals next week.”
Though it may not have appeared to have been a bad accident,the 20-year-old Hoosier noted things weren’t as simple as they looked, and that his situation could have been much worse than it has turned out to be in the week since the crash happened.
“I hit the infamous hole in turn one at Tulare. Honestly, I didn’t even flip that hard,” recalled Price-Miller. “I knew it wasn’t going to be that hard, but I started bouncing and when it got on the right front (tire), it just stuck straight up with the nose on the ground … and then it just pivoted and landed really hard on the rear wheels. That’s the worst way to land, because your back just takes the whole shock.
“As soon as I landed, I felt like someone had stabbed me in the back with a knife,” he continued. “My legs instantly went numb … I couldn’t feel them or move them, my arms were tingly and going fuzzy … and it felt like my legs were balloons. I couldn’t move and I was pretty worried, at that point. The safety team had to help me get out of the car … and luckily Ryan Bernal was there to help get me out safely.
After being accompanied to the hospital by Gary Scelzi — the father of Price-Miller’s Indy Race Parts teammate Gio Scelzi — Price-Miller spent several nervous hours without movement in his lower extremities before things turned in a positive direction.
“I was walking by the next day,” said Price-Miller. “I couldn’t really feel or move my legs until probably 3 a.m. Friday morning. At that point, I was able to start wiggling my big toe, but that was about all I could do until the swelling went down more. Then I started to be able to move my feet and bend my legs. I was slow, but I was standing by about 10 a.m. that following morning.
“I’m good now. I’m obviously pretty sore still and have a stiff neck and back, but I’ve been stretching and doing everything I can to get better and get back at it.”
Though Price-Miller noted he’s not quite back to full strength just yet, he’ll be medically cleared to race as soon as he feels comfortable to climb back into the driver’s seat.
“My spinal cord and muscles were so in shock from the impact that they just locked up and weren’t doing anything. I have a pinched nerve still, and the combination of all that was just bad enough that it made things really out-of-whack for a bit there. I do still have a couple of bulged discs – C6 and C7 – but I can race with that and I should be good to go.”
