
Ryan Wilson was back at the shop on Monday afternoon, though that may not have been what his doctors recommended after suffering a concussion at North Wilkesboro on Saturday night.
On Saturday night, Wilson was involved in a massive accident on the 57th lap of the ECMD 125 at North Wilkesboro Speedway. He was running in the ninth position when he and Parker Eatmon made contact, triggering a massive accident in the final race of the 2024 zMAX CARS Tour campaign which also swept up Isabella Robusto, Brandon Pierce, and Chase Burrow, among others.
Wilson was transported to the Wilkes Medical Center where he was diagnosed with a concussion and otherwise minor injuries. On Monday, Wilson was in good spirits despite the incident.
“I did not want to go,” Wilson told Short Track Scene. “I was transported, mandatory, because I was knocked out. It was definitely not voluntary, but I guess I was not all there. I was struggling to move my back and neck. They put me on some kind of backboard, strapped me down. It took an hour to feel like I cleared up. It was a really hard hit and I’m stubborn enough I wouldn’t have went at all, but it’s probably a good thing they took me.”

Wilson’s scans were clear and, aside from a second concussion in two years, he had bruised lungs and a bruised back and was otherwise just hurt. For his part, the veteran racer from Randleman, North Carolina had no hard feelings about the incident, attributing it to hard racing.
“It was just hard racing,” Wilson said. “Just got hit in the left rear, turned around. It wasn’t anything anyone did on purpose or stupid or anything like that, just hard, right racing. It’s just one of those things, I happened to be the victim of it, unfortunately. I’m not mad at anybody, I guess it happened.”
Wilson also said Eatmon had reached out to him after the incident to make sure he was okay.
“Parker reached out to me which is much appreciated,” Wilson said. “We’re good friends with the guys on that team. It just sucks it happened.”
Wilson had previously been diagnosed with a concussion after an incident at Ace Speedway in the Spring of 2023.
On Monday, he was back at the shop surveying the damage to his car, saying he felt okay.
“I woke up this morning and went straight there,” Wilson stated. “The shop is only a quarter-mile from my house. I went to the shop and didn’t really do a lot to be honest, but I was there, looked at the car, just wanted to be around to day and see what we had left. I was there for a few hours. I’ve been perfectly fine. I woke up sore, besides that, I’ve been okay.”
Wilson had planned to compete in year-end headline races at New River All American Speedway, Florence Motor Speedway, and Southern National Motorsports Park in November. Those plans, however, are on hold as Wilson says he is taking the concussion and its potential impacts seriously.
“I’ve raced for 20 years and never been hurt until last year,” Wilson explained. “The last one I had, it seemed different every day. Some days, I’d be fine. Some days, I’d be terrible. So I’ve got to take it day by day. I don’t want to get hurt even more running the last few races of the year when I can start over fresh next year.”
Wilson also said they’ve got to get the car back together.
“I don’t think it’s too bad,” he continued. “It’s not absolutely destroyed.”
Ryan Wilson is a two-time Late Model Stock Car track champion at Caraway Speedway, his home track, and has a top-five finish and two-top 10s in just 14 CARS Tour appearances dating back to the series’ inaugural race at Southern National in 2015.

Marquis comes from St. Charles, Maryland and has a widespread background in journalism, having covered politics in Washington and Maryland as well as nearly every form of auto racing, including NASCAR, IndyCar, AMA Motocross and IHRA Drag Racing. Now living near Emerald Isle, North Carolina, Marquis covers Late Model Stock Cars and Super Late Models in the Carolinas and Virginia.


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