Jimmy Hoberg walked to the starting line at National Trail Raceway Saturday afternoon during the ADRL Ohio Drags in Columbus, 
Ohio. This time last year, that simple
action, for the track’s regular starter, would have been a non-story.
On this day just walking was an accomplishment. Walking at National Trail Raceway was the icing on the cake.
“It was great,” said Hoberg, choking back the tears and apologizing for getting emotional.
Hoberg was driving in Columbus two weeks before Christmas when a
reckless driver ran a red-light, t-boning his work truck while
traveling at an estimated 120 miles per hour. Hoberg was the fourth car
through the intersection.
Jimmy Hoberg walked to the starting line at National Trail Raceway Saturday afternoon during
Months after a near-fatal accident, National Trail Raceway starter Jimmy Hoberg worked the starting line at the ADRL Ohio Drags.
the ADRL Ohio Drags in Columbus, Ohio. This time last year, that simple
action, for the track’s regular starter, would have been a non-story.
On this day just walking was an accomplishment. Walking at National Trail Raceway was the icing on the cake.
“It was great,” said Hoberg, choking back the tears and apologizing for getting emotional.
Hoberg was driving in Columbus two weeks before Christmas when a
reckless driver ran a red-light, t-boning his work truck while
traveling at an estimated 120 miles per hour. Hoberg was the fourth car
through the intersection.
“I pretty much broke everything from my waist up,” Hoberg said.
Hoberg was diagnosed with a broken neck, broken arm and a shattered
pelvis amongst a score of other internal injuries. He also had a
severed artery in his heart and a collapsed lung. He lost 30 percent of
his lung.
Two of Hoberg’s co-workers were in the truck and one was ejected
through the driver’s side window suffering a broken neck and the other
suffered multiple non-life threatening injuries.
“I woke up with the steering wheel in my chest,” Hoberg recalled. “I
talked to the rescue squad and told them I had twin three-year old
daughters and needed to go to their play that night. I told them to
take care of the other guys because my wife was going to come get me.”
He drifted into a coma, regaining consciousness 31 days later.
From the moment Hoberg woke, he began plotting a plan to return to the
drag strip. Drag racing would serve as his inspiration during his
rehabilitation.
“I heard about this race and I knew that was the race I wanted to
return for,” said Hoberg, referencing this weekend’s ADRL event. “I
couldn’t wait for the race to get here. The whole time I was down I
told the guys [at National Trail Raceway] that I would be back for this
event.”
Hoberg spent a total of 63 days in the hospital.
“For thirty-one days I had no idea what was going on,” Hoberg said.
As soon as Hoberg healed enough to become mobile, one of the first
trips he made was out to the track. He made several trips where he
would advise the staff on various jobs that needed to be done.
“The staff would come and pick me up when the track was open and then
my wife would come and get me a couple of hours later,” Hoberg said.
Hoberg chokes up each time he explains how valuable his fellow track team members were to his recovery.
To this date, Hoberg has no idea what inspired this driver to do what
he did. He added that the driver was not under the influence of alcohol
or drugs and was uninjured in the crash which totaled his Range Rover.
“When I got to the hospital, they told my wife that I belonged to the
morgue not the hospital,” Hoberg recalled. “They don’t know how I
survived.
“The people at this track have been a blessing to me. They are a great
group of people. I’ve lost a third of my lung, the doctors told me I
wouldn’t walk again. I was determined to make it out here. I had to
prove them wrong, even if I had to sit down. Nothing was going to keep
me away. I proved them wrong. I just thank the good Lord I was able to
make it here.”
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