After hitting a deer and later blowing a tire on his trailer, Bob Williams was hoping he had left all his bad luck on the road between Prince George and Vernon.
But, in spectacular, metal-mangling fashion, more misfortune was waiting for him at Vernon's Sun Valley Speedway.
Williams, a 52-year-old local stock car driver, was involved in one of the hardest crashes ever seen in the ARCA OK Tire Challenge Series on Saturday. In the A heat race -- his first race of the weekend and the season -- Williams was hit by fellow driver Dave Wilson after Wilson's car blew a tire and lost control. A millisecond after impact, Williams's car climbed up over Wilson's and went airborne. Williams was doing between 110 and 120 miles per hour at the time and could do nothing but wait for the rough landing he knew was coming.
It was more violent than expected, because he smashed head-on into the wall in Corner 3. Fortunately, Williams was unhurt, but his 2011 Impala SS was totaled.
"We've got good safety equipment in there," he said of his escape from injury. "Those crashes always happen so fast you never get scared. It's no different than any other traffic crash -- well, maybe a bit [different]. You're like, 'Holy smokes!' Sometimes you tug the wheel a couple times and you might not hit at full impact. You might glance off [the wall] and minimize the damage but that wasn't the case in this one."
Stock car drivers carry no insurance for such accidents. Williams is now looking for a new car and estimates the cost at between $30,000 and $40,000.
"Thank God for good sponsors," said Williams, who is in his first year of a deal with Rain-X, which sells products like wiper blades, windshield treatments, washes and waxes.
Williams hopes to have new wheels in time for the next ARCA race weekend, May 28 at Thunder Mountain Speedway in Williams Lake. He said there was never a doubt in his mind about whether or not to continue the season.
"We'll rebound from this," he said. "That's what makes good race teams, is teams that can overcome this stuff. I'm lucky, I've got a pretty supportive wife [Vivian] and there was no question that we were going to call it quits or anything."
For the past two seasons, Williams has finished second in the overall ARCA points standings. He's also the series president.
On the way down to Vernon, Williams -- driving his motor home -- hit a deer near McBride and did major damage to the front of his vehicle.
"We spent two hours fixing broken air lines and fixing the front of the motor home," he said.
Later, close to Blue River, a tire on the trailer containing the car exploded. With the delays, the ride to Kamloops took about 11 hours instead of the usual six.
After his hard-luck weekend, Williams has been getting plenty of support from ARCA fans and drivers.
"I've been absolutely amazed," he said. "On Facebook they've got pictures of the crash and stuff and there must be 30 or 40 different comments. Everybody has been really supportive for us to get back out there. Everybody has reached out and all the other racers were awesome."
