Racer Who Sped Off Seacoast Track at 100 MPH Makes NH Comeback

The racer who drove his midget racer off a Seacoast race track and into a pond in the woods returned to New Hampshire Saturday night with a win.

Driving Car #21 for Mike Scravani's team in the Northeastern Midget Racing Association Joey Bailey, 24, from New Jersey disappeared off the track at 100 mph at Star Speedway in Epping on Sept. 18. He made it out of the car with just a temporary twinge in his lower back.

"I think Mike was determined to get back out there. Last Wednesday and Thursday he went all the way to Wisconsin, he got another car. We had a spare older engine and we just pieced it together. We put the belts in it Saturday morning went out and won the thing," Bailey told Seacoast Current.

#21 after the race (L) and the new #21 (Joey Bailey)

Bailey finished first in his race during Russ Conway's Oktoberfest at Lee USA Speedway Saturday night. He had no trepidation about racing again in the Granite State.

"I know a lot of the tracks up there do what they can to keep us safe. Hopefully Star takes some notes about what happened. They're all great racetracks. To make a comeback like that was huge," Bailey said.

Only the seat and the belts from the original #21 made it into the new car.

"The steering wheel was bent so bad. Everything else was unsalvagable so we pretty much started from scratch. We have a whole new piece and it's pretty good out of the box," Bailey said.

Bailey said further investigation into the crash confirmed it was a throttle that was stuck open.

"We determined what caused it. It got hung up on a bolt that was loose inside the cockpit. That's what caused it to get stuck. We made a design to prevent that from happening again," Bailey said.

The racing season is nearly done for Bailey. He finished fourth in the TT championship and has two more races in the new #21 at Thompson Speedway in Connecticut next weekend and both his cars at the Waterford Speedbowl on Oct. 16.

Joey Bailey and his team (Joey Bailey)