HammerDownUSA.com
Placerville Speedway fans, drivers and staff raise over 11k
Saturday for injured driver
C.J. Humphreys returns to victory lane in sprint
feature.
By Bill Sullivan
Sellers
remained at UC David Medical Center on Saturday night where he will begin his
lengthy recovery from three fractures in his spine suffered after a collision
with Andy Forsberg last Saturday night. While her son and husband remained at
the hospital Saturday night his mother Mary and his sister, Traca
returned to the infield of Placerville Speedway this week to participate in a
very emotional ceremony that opened the second point race of the season.
The
event began with a special invocation by speedway chaplain Don Wilson of
“We
are all a family in this sport. This is what we do every week We come out here as families, we race and we know the
danger,” said Sellers with Forsberg and his parents by her side. “When you do
this, you know anything can happen. Its racing and no one person is to blame
for what happened here last Saturday. We
have raced three decades at this speedway and the Forsberg family has been a
great part of that. I know I don’t want to leave here blaming anyone for
Billy’s injuries. I ask everyone else to do the same thing, do it for my son
and for the Forsberg family. Billy has a long road ahead of him and I am
grateful for what is happening here tonight and that Andy is a part of it.”
Following
the ceremony, Sellers presented Billy’s helmet to Rich Rosser, the car owner of
the #23r which Sellers was scheduled to drive this season and was destroyed
last week in the accident. Rosser then led the drivers into the grandstands
where they all collected donations for the Billy Sellers Recovery Fund.
While
the majority of his medical bills will be covered by insurance, Sellers still
has many financial challenges in the future with the everyday costs of raising
two children and maintaining the family owned business, Sellers Race Wings,
that was operated solely by himself prior to the accident.
At
the conclusion of the evening, the collections combined with donations for a
charity raffle that took place for items donated by the community exceeded
$11,000. In addition to the donation, John Padjen,
the operator of Placerville Speedway approved the use of the Golden State
Sprint Car Benevolent Fund last week, which will financially assist Sellers
during his recovery as well.
“I
am completely overwhelmed by all of this and I know when Billy learns what everyone
has done for him tonight he will be so grateful,” added Sellers. “There are so
many people to thank here tonight. I have to thank the Padjen
Family for their caring and support and Bill Sullivan for putting this together
and being our public voice this past week and pastor Don Wilson for being there
for us in this difficult time. To all the fans and businesses that helped put
this together, there are no words that describe what you have all done here
tonight and how this feels, it is very overwhelming but I thank all of you.”
Following
the special opening on Saturday, the action on the track saw