It has been a tough stretch for NHRA nitro-class crew members as the Mello Yello Drag Racing Series gathers for the third straight weekend for the Lucas Oil Southern Nationals.
 
Clint Brewer, the clutch specialist for Scott Palmer’s Marck Industries/Voodoo II Dragster, spent several days after last week’s race in the hospital at Charlotte with a ruptured intestine. And Palmer and his team kept vigil at the hospital. Palmer called Brewer “a very close friend to our entire team” and said that as soon as Brewer became ill “I’ve been more focused on his health than race stuff – he’s a great person and friend.”
 
But the team did more than just visit Brewer at Carolinas Health Care System Northeast at Kannapolis, N.C. They opened a Go Fund Me account online to help cover at least some of his medical expenses.
 
“He’s self-employed back home in Dallas. So we need to keep him in business,” Palmer said.
 
According to Palmer’s crew chief and fiancée Ashley Fye, “after a weekend of busting his behind on the car and being in pain, he woke up Monday morning in unbelievably intense pain. We took him to the ER, and he was diagnosed with a ruptured intestine, and emergency surgery soon followed. I'm happy to say that he's . . . recovering, but he's got a long road ahead of him. He's going to have some huge bills to try and pay off, as well as not being able to work now due to his recovery. He's in construction and remodels, so he's a in a very physical business. I'm just trying to band together all of our supporters and friends so he can focus on his recovery, rather than how he can pay for this shocking surprise. His medical bills will likely be over $50,000.”
 

The online fundraiser on Brewer’s behalf accepts donations at https://www.gofundme.com/clints-hospital-bills. The initial goal was to raise $15,000, and in just three days, 100 people – including racers and crew chiefs – contributed a total of $13,380.
 
“Anything anyone can contribute will help immensely, and I, our whole Scott Palmer Racing team, and Clint himself will appreciate it tremendously. Thanks for supporting Clint. We're going to be bummed to not have him at the track for a while, but he needs to get better quick so he can join us out there again,” Fye said.
 
Ron Capps’s Funny Car team had its medical scare at the race before that. When Capps won the Houston Funny Car final, he said, "We know we're taking this trophy to our crewman and brother Joe Chrisman tonight. Joe had emergency surgery after we got to Houston. He'll be fine, and I'm sure this will make him feel a lot better."
 
Chrisman, one of the clutch specialists on the NAPA Dodge and a relative of Top Fuel racer Steve Chrisman, is missing his third straight event this weekend.
 
After arriving at Royal Purple Raceway at Baytown, Texas, fellow crew member Dustin Heim rushed Chrisman to Houston Methodist St. John’s Hospital in nearby Nassau Bay with a burst appendix. He underwent surgery and remained hospitalized until that Tuesday after the race. He’s back at the Don Schumacher Racing shop at Brownsburg, Ind., performing light duties. (Ironically, Heim missed the Epping, N.H., race last June with a herniated disc in his back , and Capps won that event, too.)
 

Like Chrisman, Frank Plotkowski, clutch man for Shawn Langdon’s Global Electronic Technology Dragster at Kalitta Motorsports, has been ordered by doctors not to lift more than 10 pounds for about six weeks.
 
He started becoming ill that Friday at Houston and felt worse as the day progressed but dismissed his pain as possible hunger pangs.
 
“Saturday morning it was hard to get going. I was moving slow,” Plotkowski said. “Then it was really hurting. It felt like I was getting stabbed on the right side.”  But he continued to try carrying out his duties, saying, “I can’t just walk away.”
 
Finally the pain became too much for him, and crew chief Rob Flynn and Team Manager Rachel De Lago urged him to seek medical attention. After a visit with the track doctors, he went to San Jacinto Methodist Hospital at Baytown, where a CAT scan confirmed his appendix was the culprit.
 
While Plotkowski awaited the doctor’s decision whether to have surgery immediately or the next morning, he watched NHRA’s All-Access on his computer, bummed that he was missing a session for the first time since he joined the tour as a crewman five years ago. When the doctor told him he wanted to head to surgery right away, Plotkowski said, “Can you give me five minutes? My car’s getting ready to run. We’re drag racing at Royal Purple Raceway.”
 
The doctor complied, but the second that Langdon completed his qualifying pass, Plotkowski was whisked away to the operating room. He said he awoke to the sound of Mario Todd rapping on the recovery-room window and standing there smiling, along with wife Kim. Accompanying JR Todd’s parents was the Kalitta Motorsports hospitality specialist. “That was so nice of them to come and visit,” Plotkowski said.
 
He returned to the Houston track for race day, “to offer moral support,” he said. That’s where Connie Kalitta, 79, told the 24-year-old Plotkowski, “You’re moving as fast as me now.” Plotksowski’s wild weekend ended with a flight back to Ypsilanti, Mich., aboard the boss’ jet, with Top Fuel racer Doug Kalitta piloting them.     
    
A week ago, Steve Torrence crewman Justin Crosslin lost his mother the day before eliminations at Charlotte. Torrence said, “You spend every weekend with these guys and they become your family. We’re like brothers, and I trust these guys with my life.  You form that bond and when anybody is down, you support them. We told him that we would be getting the trophy for him.  I’m very fortunate to have my mom [Kay] at all the races. It makes you take a look at what you have and not take anything for granted.”
 
Crosslin has rejoined the team and is here at Atlanta in the Torrence pit.