Garrett Alberson shared an update on his recovery after he was injured after an object struck him during the North/South 100 feature at Florence Speedway.
Alberson shared the update during a surprise appearance at Fairbury Speedway, where he was taking in the the action during the MARS Racing Series. He told FloRacing’s Mike Norris, “Feeling pretty good. Feeling pretty good. It feels like we’re kinda starting around the corner now. There was a couple of tough weeks in there where, you know, it [was] just a lot of pain to where you just didn’t have any energy to do anything. Starting to feel a little bit human now. Starting to get back to working in the shop a little bit.”
“Depth perception is not quite there to go racing yet. So hopefully that continues to heal up,” he added.
Alberson then shared his gratitude to the racing community for all the support they’ve provided him and his family, “But, man, I just got to shoutout to the racing community. First and foremost, all the the people that just poured in support and encouragement for us and prayers. It’s just really humbling and really cool to see the racing community come along side us and boost us up.”
As for when he plans to return to the car, Alberson said, “A little at the mercy of how my eye’s healing up at the moment, but really hoping to get back in the car before the year’s over. There’s a lot of cool races at the end of the year there. And my eye’s progressing and if it can keep on coming along maybe some time in October. Can’t swear to anything, but I’m hoping somewhere in there.”
“The car’s, everything’s ready to go. The guys have been doing an awesome job. Big thanks to Ken and Beth for sticking behind us. Just feel really blessed. Just hopefully we can keep progressing,” he concluded.
Alberson was injured when an unidentified object stuck him in the face with 40 laps left in the North/South 100 feature. He was running in 7th and slowed in the top of turn 1 and eventually came to a stop in turn 2. He quickly unbuckled and exited the car. After he got out of the car, he dropped to his knees as he worked to get his helmet off.
FloRacing’s Dustin Jarrett would report that “Garrett was hit with something out there on the race track: a rock, a mud clot, not real sure. It actually made a laceration above his eye, above one of his eyes. The rock, mud clot, whatever it was. And so they are going to transport him to a local hospital for further evaluation.”
After being evaluated at a local hospital, Alberson’s wife Dani shared that he suffered “a broken nose, a couple facial fractures and a laceration above his eye. The docs did a good taking care of him.”
It’s unclear exactly what struck him, but he and his team shared in a post to Facebook on Tuesday, August 11th, “Given the extent of damage to his face, we have to guess whatever came through the bars was much heavier. His shield did not shatter, it indented and smashed the whole helmet into his head.”
“We are blessed that Simpson Race Products made such a durable helmet, the doctors told us it likely saved his eyes, and his life,” the team added. “The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials did a great job getting him taken care of on track, and have reviewed the helmet since.”
In addition to the post they shared the damage the object did to his helmet.
Alberson also informed StockCarReport, “What it was didn’t quite make it through the shield but impacted hard enough to essentially smash the shell/shield into my face/eye. So it was heavy whatever it was.”
He underwent surgery back in the middle of August with his family sharing in a post to Facebook, “Surgery went well, the MD was really happy with how Garrett did & how he came out of it.”
“We’re home and resting thanks to all of yall rallying around us, and taking care of us,” they added. “Thank you for the gofund me, Venmo, prayers, the continued support and the good vibes. We’ll take it one day at a time from here.”
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