Skerlong’s Atlantic season cut short by crash

Published 5:16 pm Wednesday, October 1, 2008

BRASELTON, Ga. — Carl Skerlong’s successful sophomore season racing in the Atlantic Championship Series came to an abrupt end Tuesday when he suffered a concussion after his open-wheel racecar hit a wall at the Road Atlanta course.

Skerlong estimated he lost control of the car while cruising at more than 140 mph during the day’s second practice session in advance of Friday’s Petit Le Mans, the final race of the 20008 Atlantic series season.

“Obviously I don’t remember a lot of it, we were on a practice session and everything was going real good but I lost it,” the Mukilteo, Wash., driver said by phone on Wednesday. “I spun in turn 1 and hit the left-side wall with the right side of my car.”

Skerlong was taken to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in nearby Gainesville for a CT scan that he said “looked good.” It was determined he suffered a concussion and he was ruled out for Friday’s race.

The car was traveling at more than 120 mph when it hit the wall, Skerlong said, tearing off the right-side body and gearbox. Because of the way the car hit the wall, Skerlong added, his body absorbed much of the force of impact.

“I hit straight sideways on the car — hit and stopped,” Skerlong said. “I’m lucky to only have a concussion.”

Skerlong was wearing a protective HANS device, which he said was “crucial” to minimizing his injury. The HANS device is a collar attached to the driver’s body by a harness. The collar is tethered to the driver’s helmet to prevent the head from snapping forward or sideways during crashes. Before the HANS, “these crashes used to break people’s necks,” Skerlong said.

The open-wheel cars used in the Atlantic series are manufactured by Swift Engineering. They are powered by a 2.3-liter four-cylinder fuel-injected Mazda MZR engine and are capable of producing 300 horsepower and speeds in excess of 175 mph.

Although he said he has a “pounding” headache and upper-body stiffness, Skerlong plans on staying in Georgia to help his Pacific Coast Motorsports teammate Frankie Muniz prepare for Friday’s race.

The crash ended a promising weekend for Skerlong, who was racing at Road Atlanta for the first time. With just 20 laps of total experience on the 2.54-mile road course, Skerlong had recorded the fastest lap time during the second practice session before the incident.

By any measure, Skerlong’s second season in the Atlantic series had been a success. He recorded his first series victory on Sept. 14 in New Jersey, and qualified for his first two poles, on July 26 at Edmonton and in New Jersey. He recorded a total of four podium finishes in the 10 races he started and finished out of the top five just three times — all due to contact or mechanical issues.

Skerlong arrived at Road Atlantic fourth in the series standings, and although he won’t start the finale he can drop no farther than to seventh on the final points list.

“I finished 10th my rookie year,” Skerlong said. “We improved on that this year even with four DNFs.”

One additional reason for Skerlong to stay in Georgia is to attend the season-ending Atlantic Championship Series banquet. His parents, Joel and Jean Skerlong of Mukilteo, will fly to Georgia today to join him for the banquet. Carl Skerlong said he called them from the hospital to give them the news about the crash, and to let them know he was OK.

After the banquet Skerlong said he will return to Western Washington University to continue studying mechanical engineering. He had attended one week of classes at Western before taking this week off to race in Georgia.

Although he wants to continue racing next season, Skerlong was unsure of what series or type of racing he will pursue. One thing he was sure of, however, is that Tuesday’s incident had no impact on his desire to race.

“You have to expect these things to happen — they’re going to happen,” Skerlong said. “It’s not if but when. Mine happened now.”