Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Hey everyone!

I just wanted to share with you that my second posting on my From Spurs to Slide Jobs column went live today on the Hoseheads front page. It's focus is on the late Keith Hutton, and how my racing history intertwines with Keith and his wife Jenny Hutton. If you're looking for something inspirational, I encourage you to read it. If you knew of Keith and his tragic accident, I encourage you to read it. 

If you enjoy the content, I'd love if you continued to follow me on my journey on twitter (@snappybee55) and in Dirt Monthly! There will be a full interview correlating with this specific column in an upcoming issue. As well as other great interviews with Justin Grant, Drew Brenner, Dominic Scelzi, and James Broty. 

Can't wait to hear what you think! Enjoy!

www.hoseheads.com/ashley.html

Great article, you are a talented writer, keep at it and I'm sure you will go far. I was there the night of Keith's accident, it was terrible and gruesome. I left the track and wasn't sure if I wanted to go to the nationals the rest of  the week, but I did. That was the worst night of racing I have ever been a part of. Seeing the way that the racing community came together to support Jenny and the 55 team that week is part of why I keep going back. The outpouring of love and support was incredible. I remember that a lot of money was raised for the family and a lot of special tributes were made on the track. I look forward to your interview with Jenny.

Echo your thoughts on the article and author's talents.  

I was also there and every single milli-second of the incident is burned into my memory in slow-mo.   I instantly went back to the hotel and came very, very close to giving up my interest/employement (at the time) in the sport. 

Glad I did not.  

2003 was my first Nationals. I got into town that Tuesday and was going to go to Oskaloosa that night as it would have been another new track for me, but was convinced to go to the Iowa state fair instead. I've never been more glad to miss a race.

Thank you for the nice read. I can't remember verbatim what Mr. Pletch said that evening after this terrible event but I do remember being extremely thankful he was there.

I know folks - a whole family including 3 kids - that also decided to take that night off and otherwise would have been there. They were thankful they did because I believe they knew the Huttons or at least knew of them. I was not there that year but I talked to a few people who were by phone one of which was clearly in a daze and struggling with what he saw. It happened right in front of him and he was sitting low. Having witnessed Dave Sanborn lose his life at Ascot in 1990 at the age of 19 with nobody to help me process what I saw I made sure he knew I was there for him and understood

I wanted to say thank you to everyone for the kind words in regards to my writing, and I hope you'll keep following me along on my journey.

Please, please refrain from sharing comments in regards to the graphic events surrounding the loss of Keith, and how glad you were to not be there. If you take time to read my piece, you'll see that this has a purpose to be an uplifting moment in learning to find positivity and strength in the face of great adversity. 

I did not share my connection to Keith to hear every refresh our memories about how terrible this tragedy was. As you will read, I was very connected to the Hutton family, and reading through the comments is very painful. 

This is not a post in reminisce in the moment of tragedy. If you would like to share your memories of Keith, talk about the writing, my journey, my previous article, please continue, but let's not focus on the pain.

I don't think anyone has meant to offend you. Right or wrong, I don't think many race fans knew of Keith before his accident. All that most people know about this was the terrible accident and then the support the racing community showed afterwards. Me personally, I don't want to bring up painful memories for you, but that is literally all I know of Keith Hutton. When I was younger I used to enjoy seeing a car flip, it was exciting and everyone walked away. That was clearly naive and at the age of 20, when Keith had his accident, I learned it didn't always work out. I hate accidents now, I would rather see it go green to checkers with no cautions. 

In a way, this is why I am interested to hear your interview with Jenny. She's obviously a very strong woman and it sounds like she went on to have a successful career with racecar safety with the IRL. I never knew much about Keith, I never heard his family's story, all I knew was what I saw and heard the week after his accident. By all accounts he was a great guy and is missed tremendously. Please forgive me and the others for talking about it the way we are. I don't think anyone is trying to hurt you of to be heartless.  I think it was traumatic for anyone there and talking about it now nearly 20 years later has helped me, even though it hurts you. I think it's a great thing that you are able to provide a more personal glimpse into who Keith was, most of us really don't know. 

I totally understand where you're coming from, I do, and I get it. Through talking we learn to cope and to understand.

But many times I have seen people post on this forum asking about Keith, and the focus turns to talking about the gruesome details. I just simply do not want to see that specifically happen. This is a time to learn about Keith, and about Jenny. It isn't a time to focus on talking about how gruesome the accident was. Many were traumatized by witnessing such a freak accident.

I want to keep this focused on the people involved, not the event, that's all. I may come off harsh, but, I just want to protect those effected. You never know whose reading and not commenting. This is time to rejoice in the blessing that we shared our lives for even a split second with him.

I think that's what I'm trying to say. Most people here know nothing of who Keith was, you do though. I do not want to sound harsh, but I can't reminisce about a person who was unknown to me. I'm sorry that we can't talk about the good times that we didn't experience with Keith. Keith was an unsung hero of racing, he was not well known as a driver or mechanic. It sucks that his legacy among race fans is his accident, but for many there is no other frame of reference. It obviously does not define him as a person. This is why I look forward to your interview, to learn about the man he was, his interests, his passions, etc. Much like Jason Johnson, Greg Hodnett, or Brian Clauson, I never knew them personally but I knew of them on the racetrack. I knew of their big victories, "shit, I wanted to win, parked it, etc. I don't recall Keith anywhere else but hus accident and I'm not sure others do either. I think we all want to contribute to the conversation but unfortunately, we have nothing good to add. I can't wait for you to tell his story so that we finally do.

Keith was a very quiet man, I think that detracts from people having heard much about him. If he did something great, it wasn't something you were going to hear about him bragging on. 

Keith and Jenny came over to the US in their 30s. Both of them had raced midgets, and Keith was an extremely well known fabricator. They migrated to Knoxville, Jenny worked a fulltime job as well as scored for Knoxville Raceway. Keith fabricated, I can't remember off of the top of my head out of which shop. (360 nationals fog, and working on Monday morning at the day job, LOL.) He helped a lot of guys when they came through town, and then was the crew chief on the ever legendary 55 car. Back in the day this car was orange, but we now know it, currently, as the red and black 55 that Hunter Schurenburg drives for Tony Vermeer. Still the same car owner, still just as legendary. I believe they were only in the states for about a decade or so before losing Keith, we didn't get much time here with him. Now, if you're an Aussie, I think his name is much more well known down under, LOL. 

My favorite fun fact about Keith, is that he rodeoed, also. He was a team roper. I didn't know that when he was alive, and it makes me smile. Because Keith didn't know I was going to turn into a barrel racer, and rodeo, while he was alive either. He even won buckles, and did exceptionally well. Fabricators... they really are great at just about anything that requires good hands. I wish I would have known this when he was alive, I would have loved to talk horses with him. 

My article will be more on Jenny, than on Keith. We want to show people that we can focus more on just the accident, and make losing someone have more to their legacy. I finalized the written part of the article this weekend, sitting in Knoxville, at the camp ground. (All too fitting, I felt like.) Jenny left dirt track, because it was just too hard to see the wrecks and accidents and not replay what had happened to her. She went to Indy car, and made she blazed a path in safety and accident investigation. She wanted to turn a negative into a positive, and I think anyone who reads it, will take away a.) how incredibly strong you have to be to do something like that, and it's no wonder Keith loved her! b.) we can all learn a thing or two about seeing the silver lining in everything we do, I know I did.