8/12/2015
Sprint Source
Ryan Bunton – Still On the Mend!
Morton Illinois’ Ryan Bunton realized a dream by making the championship event at the Knoxville Nationals. Unfortunately, that feat won’t be repeated this year. Ryan is still recovering from injuries sustained in a crash at the Dodge County Fairgrounds in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin back in July. Oregon’s Roger Crockett will pilot the Bruce Williams #7R machine at the Nationals in his stead. The team will qualify on Thursday.
Ryan was injured in a crash on July 10 that also involved Ben Schmidt and Rico Abreu. “The Nationals are about intensity,” he says. “You have those two laps of qualifying and then the ten laps in your heat race. You have to be 100%. If I’m not at that, I’m not going to be able to perform my best.”
He has attempted to race at Knoxville the last few weeks, but he clearly wasn’t himself on the track. “We’ve tried it,” says Ryan. “A couple of weeks ago, the track was getting a little heavy and rough. The hardest thing for me was breathing. I couldn’t breathe. I bruised my ribs and strained my back. The forces were pushing hard on my diaphragm and I couldn’t breathe.”
Ryan was interested in clearing the air about questions surrounding the race team. “There have been a lot of questions about all this,” he says. “I just wanted to get the facts out there so everyone knows what’s going on.”
Ryan and the Bruce Williams #7R team would like to thank Wilco Services, Downs Duplex, DeeZee Manufacturing, Phillips’ Floors, Morris Automotive and Morton Collision!
Photo: (JMF Photography – Courtesy of NSL)
Article Credit: Bill Wright