A flip for Garrett Manes at the midway point of the VP Racing Fuels Semi-Pro season has likely ended his season.
What looked to be a promising night one week after a second-place finish during the Summer Shootout at Charlotte Motor Speedway came to an abrupt halt on Lap 16 when his No. 1M Legend car rolled four times in an 11-car pile-up.
A restart on lap 14 saw an amazing battle for the lead as Manes, Dustin Rumley, and eventual race winner Vincent Midas were three-wide twice in two laps. Midas finally cleared Manes and Rumley a lap later. Manes and Rumley then got stuck as five cars tried to fit within a single lane.
Manes locked wheels with Ryan Miller but kept going. It looked as if Manes would sneak away before his car was clipped in the right-rear. The contact hooked his Legend Car, sending it barrel rolling on the frontstretch pavement. After four rolls, Manes landed upright on all four wheels, but the damage was done.
READ MORE: Summer Shootout Results for July 4
“I’m perfectly fine,” said Manes after being checked by medical crews. “I just have a little bit of bruising on my back from the back of the seat. My head hurts a little, but that’s typical when you roll four times.”
“All I know is that I locked wheels with the 7. I thought I got by it and then he clipped my rear wheel and that sent me end over end four times.” Manes went on to say, “In a Legend car, I have never done anything more than maybe spin and get hit. I’ve never barrel-rolled, but I have flipped over in Arena Racing before. I landed on all four, so it’s all good, no trauma there. I could have continued, but today, I totaled that car.”
After the wreck, Manes admitted that this is likely the end of his season,
“We were stretching the budget to even be here for half the season. We are really hoping that we can continue on. It’s really important to be down here to get some exposure. This is the only time I race these cars, but I think the budget is stripped down to nothing for the next race. Hopefully somethings come together and we can get some extra money to run the rest of the shootout. I have to thank Inlight, SRI for sponsoring me. It’s really been awesome to down here, great experience. It just sucks it had to end this way.”
Manes was up front battling throughout the entire race. Early on he went three wide with Midas and Rumley for the lead before a caution ended the battle. In fact, until the pile-up on lap 16, Manes was never outside the top five. The pile-up, and ensuing flip, left Manes in 18th out of the 20 cars.
Now Manes must pick up the pieces and see what he and his team could salvage from the wreckage.
