Joe Scarbrough has been a longtime competitor in the Modified division at Langley Speedway and South Boston Speedway but, after a wreck last Saturday at South Boston landed the 45-year-old in the emergency room, Scarbrough has decided to retire from racing.
Scarbrough told RACE22.com on Friday morning that he has notified both of his car owners, Charlie DeJarnette and Chris Phillips, of his decision and explained what happened in the accident at South Boston Speedway.
“What happened was, first lap was a pointless wreck, someone turned me around off the fourth turn and I backed into the inside retaining wall at South Boston,” Scarbrough said. “I had my head off the headrest when I hit so my head hit the headrest. I knew I had a concussion, I had a headache and I’ve had them before.”
While Scarbrough knew he had a concussion, he did not know the severity of this latest head injury until he blacked out the next day.
“The next day, I blacked out and went by ambulance to the hospital and had some major deficits at the time,” Scarbrough explained. “I could not move and could not speak. I never had the secondary response. I’ve been knocked unconscious, always at the time of the incident. After this crash, it was a couple seconds of unconsciousness but 24 hours later and several days of problems, six days later, I’m still on the mend from this. I’ve had five concussions in the last three years. I had a dozen while I was in the service. It adds up.”
While Scarbrough loves to race, he said he has mentally weighed the decision of whether to retire quite a bit recently. The latest accident reminded him that there is life after racing. He is engaged to get married with a wedding date set for next January.
“It’s been a question on my mind for quite some time of when do you retire,” Scarbrough commented. “I am a disabled vet because of my back. It has been comfortable driving. When you land yourself in the ER 24 hours after the race and can’t move, no matter how much you try, it’s time. If it was a broken leg, it would have been a difficult decision or probably not the same decision. But when you look at this kind of traumatic event, it’s time to quit. There’s life after racing is what it comes down to.”
Scarbrough is not exiting the sport entirely. He plans to continue to be a part of racing, whether as a car owner, a driver consultant or helping the sport learn from his accident so the cars can become safer.
“I’ve got a Pro Street Stock I was putting together,” Scarbrough commented. “It was a bucket list thing so I could race dirt. I raced dirt for two years. Now, I’ll go win one as a car owner. I would like to continue to offer driving consultation. I want to be helpful. I always examine people’s cars for them to make them better or why they got hurt in a car.”
After his accident, Scarbrough said he looked at his racecar and his seats and offered up one suggestion that may have reduced the severity of his injury.
“I don’t understand why the headrests don’t have more padding in the back of the headrest,” Scarbrough elaborated. “I went in backwards so I hit the back of my head and that’s where all my concussions have been from. If it had the same padding, if you look at the containment, the back doesn’t have the padding the right side has. I think it’s something that maybe needs to be looked at to stop this kind of injury from happening.”
Scarbrough has scored over 250 career wins in his 35 years of racing and raced at over 30 tracks, scoring wins at 16 different racetracks including Ace Speedway, Concord Motor Speedway, Hickory Motor Speedway, Langley Speedway, Old Dominion Speedway, Potomac Speedway, South Boston Speedway and Wall Stadium.
Scarbrough says he will miss racing, and he will certainly be missed on the racetrack by his competitors.
