USAC: Hmiel's Road To Recovery

USAC: Hmiel’s Road To Recovery

Former NASCAR rising star and USAC driver Shane Hmiel remains in Methodist Hospital following devastating accident earlier this month...

Robin Miller | Posted October 21, 2010 Indianapolis, IN

Shane Hmiel is back in North Carolina at a rehabilitation facility, with a plate in his broken neck, a rod in his broken back, a broken right shoulder and a bruised spinal cord. (Photo: LAT Photographic))

Steve Hmiel hasn’t seen the replay of his son’s devastating accident at Terre Haute on Oct. 9 during qualifying for USAC’s Silver Crown race. He doesn’t want to and doesn’t need to.

Because he’s spent the past two weeks in Methodist Hospital at Shane Hmiel’s bedside, watching Dr. Saad Khari’s team repair the damage to the 30-year-old racer and seeing his kid battle to beat the odds.

“I walked in just hoping I got here in time to see him alive,” said Hmiel, one of the most respected men in the NASCAR paddock who now works for Chip Ganassi. “We got past that hurdle and then it’s been two steps forward and two steps back, one step forward and two steps back but he’s getting better.

“On the first night the doctor prepared for the worst but now it’s looking so much better. Shane has a pulse in his legs and blood flow and everyone is cautiously optimistic.

“They’ve been keeping him heavily sedated because ever time he sees his mother or myself the first thing he does is try to rip out his tubes so he can talk to us.”

Considering the violent impact of the crash, it’s amazing young Hmiel is alive, has no brain damage and walking out of Methodist some day is a realistic option.

His dirt car bicycled going into Turn 3 of the Action Track and shot horizontally into the concrete wall – flattening the roll cage and stopping instantly. It resembled Greg Moore’s fatal wreck in 1999 at Fontana, except the Canadian star had nothing to cushion the blow.

Hmiel was airlifted to Indianapolis in critical condition with multiple fractures of his neck and back.

“His spinal cord twisted but thankfully it didn’t snap,” said Hmiel. “His spinal cord is bruised in two places, his neck was stretched so far he hurt his carotid artery and they found a tiny leak in another artery.

“But the HANS Device saved him because he hit his head on the wall.”

Dr. Khari got Shane into surgery immediately – installing a pair of 8-inch rods in back and screws and plates into his neck. The operation to repair his artery has to be postponed to this weekend because he contacted pneumonia earlier this week.

“I wondered why they gave Shane two major surgeries within 48 hours of the wreck and it was because they were worried about pneumonia,” continued Hmiel.

“All my life I’ve heard the announcer on TV at Indy say a driver was being taken to Methodist Hospital. And now Shane is in the womb of auto racing medicine. He’s being taken care of by the best.”

Prior to his accident, Hmiel had been one of the best comeback stories of 2010. With a lifetime ban from NASCAR for violating the three-strike drug policy, Shane started from scratch in USAC two years ago. Despite no experience in open wheel, he caught on instantly and scored victories this season in Silver Crown, midgets and sprints. He’s especially good on pavement, where he captured sprint shows at Salem, Winchester and ORP.

Former IRL regular Tyce Carlson had planned to run Hmiel in his Indy Lights car in 2011 and Shane said recently on SPEED Report: “My goal is win the Indianapolis 500.”

 The goal now is to get healthy, get to rehab and get back on his two feet.

“The doctors say it’s up to him and depends on how hard he’s willing to work and I think he’ll be very determined,” said his father. “I think Shane’s drug rehab was tougher mentality but this will be tougher physically.

“I know all his friends will kick his butt and push him and he’ll respond. I mean I’m sure he’ll get depressed and this is going to be a long, tough road back but all his friends are here so that’s the best medicine he can have right now.”

 Steve Hmiel who has worked for the Pettys, Earnhardt and Roush among others, has been overwhelmed by the amount of support his family has received from the racing fraternity.

“I got flown here from California by a guy from Colombia (Juan Monyota), my wife and family were flown from Charlotte to Indy by a guy from Cuba (Felix Sabates) and a guy from Pittsburgh (Ganassi) owns our cars,” said Hmiel. “Jamie (McMurray) dedicated his win last Saturday to Shane and it’s an amazing family. I can’t begin to tell you how fortunate we feel to be surrounded by so many good people.

“Shane probably didn’t have six friends in NASCAR and here he’s got 6,000. He’s had visitors from IndyCar, USAC, the Colts, it’s just amazing. In the meantime, I hear from Doug Wolfgang, Bubby Jones, Tony Stewart and Tracy Hines and Levi (Jones) come to visit. They all say the same thing: ‘If you need anything, just call us.’ We don’t need anything but prayers.”

Robin Miller became an Indy-car junkie in late 1950s and stooged for his hero, Jim Hurtubise, at the 1968 Indy 500. He went on to work as a vent man and board man on Indy pit crews from 1971-77. Miller bought a Formula Ford from Andy Granatelli in 1972 and raced it in SCCA until 1974 when he purchased a midget from Gary Bettenhausen, competing in the USAC midget series from 1975-82.

Robin flunked out of Ball State College in 1968 and began working at The Indianapolis Star sports department in 1969, covered motorsports there from 1969-2000.

In addition to his broadcast work. Miller's also covered IndyCar racing for Autoweek, Autosport, Car & Driver and On Track magazines over the past 35 years.

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Robin Miller

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