Travis Gusso didn't have time to think, only react. 

Gusso, who races Comp Eliminator, was in the opposite lane when Ray Skillman lost control of his E/Altered Automatic Mustang and crashed.

Skillman's Mustang ran a 7.732 only to make a hard move to the left, impacted the wall and rolled while airborne. The car landed on the tires with a stuck throttle and eventually came to a stop. 

Gusso, in an evasive manuever, drove declined to deploy the parachute and ran his Cobalt into the sand. 

"We both made good runs, and he was ahead of me," Gusso recalled. "I think he ran maybe 180 or something. I was probably 156 or so. Right after I had crossed the finish line, I shut my car off. I was in the left lane, and he came across into my lane ahead of me, and hit the wall. And got light in the rear end, and basically took flight. More or less, I went under him and to the right, got in the right-hand lane, thought I was in the clear. 

"I obviously knew he was involved in a wreck, and I was in the clear, and the next thing I know, he was beside me again like a pinball, and I couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t scrubbing speed, the fact that he was upside down hitting the walls, and wrecking. Come to find out the throttle was wide open on his car. That’s why I kept my speed up."

Gusso believed the cars were going to collide. 

"I just felt like if I slowed down at all he was for sure going to contact me," Gusso admitted. "And so I just kept my speed up and made the decision that the sand was better than trading paint or getting into the wall. I think it was probably the right decision because when I got out of my car, he was behind me in the sand. So, I mean he was tailing me around the whole way."

Skillman sustained a fractured vertebra, fractured rib, and cuts to his right hand. Gusso understands he could have also had similar injuries had he reacted differently. 

"In some ways, it was a split second," Skillman said. "In other ways, it seemed like five minutes. I just made the decision that I needed to keep speed and try to stay as much ahead of him as I could. Bless the sand trap."

Gusso admits he didn't mind pulling 50 pounds of sand from his beach-bound race car. Most of the unwanted ballast was up in the front bumper cavity and belly pan. Gusso's team spent Friday cleaning the sand from the race car.

The incident was enough to convince Gusso ending his weekend prematurely was the best course of action.

"We’re going to just clean the car up, get her home, and take it apart in a controlled environment," Gusso said. "I’m going to get out of here a little earlier than I thought."