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Description of update:
Notes: In 1984 Ray Paprota - active, outgoing, twenty-one year old Air Force man – was driving a car in his native New Jersey when he suffered an accident that would completely change his life. If his brother, who was occupying the front passenger seat, would not suffer a single scratch in that mishap, Ray would not be so fortunate, as he broke his neck in the accident and became paraplegic.
But whilst other would bow to the consequences of injuries of such sort and resign to a contained life, Paprota’s will and perseverance would not allow him to do so. Despite years of painful and frustrating physiotherapy, Paprota was determined to acquire new skills and remain integrated to society. Always a sportsman, he took on wheelchair basketball – and quickly developed into an excellent player. In fact, he progressed so well in this discipline that in 1993 he moved to Birmingham, AL, specifically to train for the upcoming 1996 Atlanta Paraolympic Games. However, he suffered a shoulder injury right before the try-out for the United States team and these dreams were cut short.
Besides his qualities on the basketball court Paprota was a good mechanic as well, and he begun to help friends to prepare cars for the Legend stock cars category - in which purpose-built, scale-down racing machines are modeled after 1930s-era coupés. Enthused by this experience, Paprota decided to adapt one of the Legends for his own use – and decided to race it. He applied to races in short dirt tracks in Alabama, and was accepted as a bona fide competitor. Soon he was discovered by George White, a mechanic well-known in the local racing scene, White was a former member of the famous “Alabama Gang” of the NASCAR circuit in the 1970s and 1980s headed by stock-car legend and NASCAR champion Bobby Allison. Having worked with Bobby’s sons Davey and Clifford and with Neil Bonnett, White left racing in 1988 after Bobby’s horrendous NASCAR crash, setting his attention into a company that manufactured equipment for disabled people. The connection between the Ray Paprota and George White was then immediate.
White thought that Paprota could benefit from driving tips by Bobby Allison and scheduled for both to meet at a rehabilitation center in Birmingham where the two checked in: Ray was scheduled to undergo additional physiotherapy sessions to increase his strength and balance, and Bobby was to be admitted for the continued treatment of his 1988 accident. The two hit it off, and in that very first meeting Bobby volunteered to be Paprota’s mentor in racing. With such a support Paprota formed a racing team, named Pioneer Racing; he chose this name as he believed his dedication to sports could open doors to other disabled athletes, and based its operations in the same racing shop once used by Allison and his late son Davey.
Paprota’s objective was to race in the ARCA stock-car series, but the required budget were beyond his reach. After considering for a while engaging in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – and again being forced to give up due to lack of funds – Paprota opted to compete in the lower-budget Goodie’s Dash Series in 2003, a championship for four-cylinder compact and sub-compact stock cars, was one of the least known NASCAR-sanctioned divisions.
This category was born in 1973 when NASCAR noticed that the volumes of compact cars sold were growing and decided to create a championship for them – naming the series The Baby Grand National Racing Association. In the first of a long series of denomination changes, that was to be shortened to The Baby Grand Series two years later.
Throughout the 1970s it remained a relatively obscure series amongst the many championships controlled by Bill France and his family and, with the affirmation of NASCAR as a popular, powerful brand in the American market, it would become NASCAR International Sedan Series in 1980. However, since its calendar was limited to a few race tracks, that was changed to Darlington Dash Series in 1983 and then to Charlotte/Daytona Dash Series in 1985.
Years passed, new promotion engines were tried but the series continued to struggle to stay afloat. In yet another tentative to increase its marketeability, the NASCAR denominator came again to the fore in 1990 and the championship was reborn as NASCAR Dash Series. Two years later, with the arrival of sponsor Goody's, a brand of powder medicine for headache popular in the American South and with a long story of patronizing stock car drivers and races, it became the Goody's Dash Series.
Paprota’s car for this championship was equipped with a system of levers, gears and knobs to allow the driver to race it without the use of his legs. The throttle and brakes were activated by levers attached to the steering wheel, along with a button for the two-way radio used for communication with his team and the engine kill switch. The emergency brake could be operated by an actuator on the left side of the dashboard, and the clutch was triggered by a button on the top of the gearshift knob. George White continued his association with Paprota and acted as Pioneer Racing crew chief.
In order to participate in the Dash events, Paprota had to obtain a NASCAR racing license, passing all requirements to compete and demonstrating ability to escape from his car. He did that with flying colours, and in 2003 he attempted to qualify to four Goody’s Dash Series races. He made the starting line-up in three of them, becoming the first known paraplegic to compete in a national stock-car race.
If Paprota’s debut in the Dash series was respectable, it is also true that the series had hit an all-time low. The series difficulties seemed to be perennial, and with small and shrinking attendances and virtually no media coverage, NASCAR decided to drop its sanction, bailing out of Dash. Goody’s follow suit, leaving the series as well. It appeared that Dash would be crossed out of the American racing calendar forever, but in October of 2003 promoter Buck Parker bought the championship rights from NASCAR, and granted it another chance. Unsurprisingly, Parker – as CEO and President of the series - opted for yet another name change: in 2004 Dash was to be called IPOWERacing Dash Series.
Paprota decided to stay put in Dash for 2004, but he would upgrade from the small five-eights-of-a-mile tracks to which he had restrained himself. As usual, that year the Dash calendar would open with its flagship event – a race at the mythical Daytona International Speedway as part of the Speed Weeks program that peaks with NASCAR Daytona 500. In preparation for that, Paprota obtained from STOPS, a company based in Titusville, FL, that produces equipment for disabled people; although that was merely a one-race deal, it was proof that Paprota’s name was becoming more recognized in the field.
Paprota requested a license for the Daytona event, and as it happened for the smaller, short tracks, again passed the necessary tests to make the race. As later explained by Raymond Claypoole, then the executive vice-president of the series, “He attended a rookie meeting and went through extensive testing both on and off the track. We also asked other drivers... and we felt very confident he was qualified to compete here.” Buck Parker completed: “The biggest thing we're concerned with is the safety. We have special meetings with the safety people because of him. With the ambulance crews, we let them know who he is and what his disabilities are.” The comments did not faze Paprota: “That's understandable”, he said at the time. “I don't want them to treat me any different, but I also want them to feel comfortable, that I'm not a knucklehead. I don't expect to be treated any different than any other driver.”
The race at Daytona brought new challenges to Paprota. As he used his left hand to push the throttle, and since superspeedways demands almost continued use of full accelerator throughout the race, one of his biggest hurdles would be keeping the strength of his left arm until the checkered flag. Other competitors could eventually switch feet on the throttle pedal and provide relief to their right foot; Paprota developed his own alternative to that. As he commented, “On a short track, you're constantly on and off the throttle, so you're flexing your arm. But there are times on the backstraight [of Daytona] where I take my right arm and put it over here on the throttle, so I can get the blood going in my [left] arm again, because I'm holding it all the time wide open."
Paprota qualified in 26th place in the field of thirty-six competitors that lined up for the start of the IPOWERacing Dash 150. To his disappointment, though, his blue, number 0 Pontiac Sunfire did not start before the green flag, and it was pushed behind the pit wall for repairs. The race begun without him, and as the Pioneer Racing mechanics tried to diagnose the problem on Paprota’s car, a serious accident occurred on the ninth lap at the other end of the 2.5-mile tri-oval track. The Ford number 15 of Bill Clevenger drove onto the apron of the race track between Turns 3 and 4, shot across the pavement and slammed head-on into the outside wall of Turn 4. Clevenger’s Ford spun down the track steep embankment and was tee-boned at high speed by Tony Billings’ Mercury number 29. Clevenger’s machine burst into flames; both cars were destroyed in the accident and other vehicles were damaged as well, bringing out the first caution period of the race. Billings, albeit conscious and able to move, had to be extricated from his car, which was cut open in this operation. He was taken to the Halifax Memorial Hospital, where he was in satisfactory condition on Sunday night. Clevenger, of McConnellsburg, PA, managed to leave his car unscathed; he was evaluated at the facility’s infield care center and released.
Meanwhile Paprota’s mechanics tracked the problem in his car down to a faulty battery; this part was replaced and the engine fired up. Paprota was allowed to enter the race track still under yellow flag. His Pontiac left the pitlane, completed a lap and quickly gained speed through Turn 1, as he tried to catch up with the tail-end of the field of the competitors, then trailing the pace car at reduced speed on the nineteenth lap of the event.
In the same time a pick-up for the Daytona safety team was circulating around the oval looking for debris on the race track. One of the men riding this vehicle was Roy Weaver, a safety crew supervisor who had worked at the Daytona International Speedway for seven years. Weaver kept his eyes on the track, looking for parts left on the pavement that could cause a puncture or an accident. As the pick-up approached the midsection of Turn 2, Weaver, riding at the bed of the pick-up, asked the vehicle to be stopped as he saw a piece of debris on the track. It was then that a series of mistakes would be triggered – concluding in tragedy.
First, it appears that the pick-up crew did not inform the race control that debris was found at Turn 2. Therefore the information was not relayed to the other marshals or to the drivers and their spotters. Weaver, maybe overzealously, maybe simply willing to do his job, entered the track to clean it – but only his mates in the truck were aware of it. Because of the thirty-one-degree banking Weaver had to almost crawl up the rélévé, making difficult for incoming drivers to see him. This was particularly critical in a section of the track where visibility is more limited than in other points. Weaver, probably believing that all competitors were packed together, forgot – or was not aware – of the fact that Paprota’s Pontiac was circulated separated from the other cars. Another factor in that played a factor in the ensuing moments was the position of the safety truck: in case of track intervention, safety crew-carrying vehicles are to park on the race track – both to better warn drivers of the presence of marshals on the pavement as well as to act as a shield. However, the pick-up truck was stationed on the grass, on the right side of the track, and away from the direct field of view of drivers.
Paprota, unaware of all that, approached Turn 2 at more than 160 km/h (100 mi/h). As he drove into Turn 2, he spot Weaver in the middle of the track and immediately hit the brakes of the Sunfire by operating a lever behind the steering wheel. The car fishtailed, and the rear of the passenger side struck Weaver violently. The marshal, a forty-four-year old resident of Omond Beach, FL, was flipped over the vehicle and instantly killed. According to Frank Micali, who was watching the race from atop a trailer parked in the infield, “He [Paprota] locked up the brakes and he slid sideways into him [Weaver]. The guy was running one second, he took two steps on to the track, and it was over.” Weaver was the thirty-sixth person – the first marshal – to lose his life at the Daytona International Speedway.
Paprota’s Pontiac hit the outer wall and came to a stop half-spun at the inner side of the exit of Turn 2, showing extensive damage to its rear and right sections and with its front spoiler damaged as well. Weaver’s body was covered with a tarp while other marshals detoured the cars – which continued to circulate under yellow flags for a few laps – around the gruesome scene of the accident. “There was stuff everywhere”, said driver Mark Howard. “I didn’t see what happened, but from the [body] parts I did see, I knew it wasn’t good”. A somber mood covered Daytona, and the race was then red-flagged and the remaining cars were brought to a stop on the pitlane for one hour and thirty-three minutes until IPOWERacing officials, gathered in a meeting at the control room in the Nextel Tower, chose to resume it. The event, trimmed to forty from its scheduled sixty laps and completed under the spotlights that surround the track, was won by polesitter Danny Bagwell, whose team had helped Paprota’s racing efforts in the past. After the race the Daytona Beach Police Department inspected the scene of the accident and Paprota’s car parked at the garages. Paprota was questioned by the policemen and left the circuit in shock. At the same time the Weaver family was summoned to the Halifax Medical Center, where it was informed of the death of Roy.
A service was held on Roy Weaver’s memory on 11 Wednesday 2004 at the Tomoka Christian Church in Ormond Beach, FL. Weaver was a well-known figure at the Daytona International Speedway; as journalist Ken Willis wrote, he was “a very nice man with a high-octane, infectious personality who seemed to never meet a stranger. He was a common sight on Speedway grounds - quick smile, a bop on the shoulder, maybe a little good-natured verbal jab. He will be missed around the track.” Roy was born in Andalusia, AL, to Roy Holland Weaver, Jr. and Sybil Godwin Weaver on 19 February 1959. He grew up in that town and was a graduate of the Class of 1977 of the Andalusia High School. Weaver served as a Minister at Calvary Assembly of God in Ormond Beach from May, 1986 to 1998, and he was a board member of Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC), where he received the Dove Award. He also served on associations such as the Leadership Volusia and the Volusia County Government Citizens Academy. Roy was particularly proud of the fact that his family was selected as the Greater Daytona Beach Area YMCA Family of the Year, 2002. He was survived by his wife of twenty-one years and who he met when studying at Auburn University, Linda Scarbrough Weaver, daughters Rebecca Lee (18) and Rachael Magdalene (15) and son Roy Holland “Rolly” Weaver IV (13), by his sister Kay Weaver Ingram and by his extended family. Roy Weaver’s ashes were scattered in a memorial garden the family built in its Ormond Beach home owing to donations from friends. A few months later students at the Andalusia Middle School dedicated the first tree planted in the institution’s Reading Garden, a Japanese Maple, to the memory of Roy Weaver. Roy studied in that school as a child.
The death of Roy Paprota led to multiple developments. The Daytona Beach Police Department carried an investigation of the case, which later cleared Paprota of any responsibility for Weaver’s death and deemed Weaver’s death an “accident”. The Police report also concluded that “the fact that Paprota is paralyzed from the waist down wasn’t a factor in the crash.” It is worth mentioning that the handling of Paprota’s car differed from the confusion following Dale Earnhardt’s fatal accident during the 2001 Daytona 500: that time NASCAR official removed the vehicle from the race course to carry their own private investigation before law enforcement officials could inspect it, what led to a bitter disagreement between the two parts, and for what NASCAR was much criticized by the media. This time, though, the Daytona Beach Police Department was able to fully inspect the car before it was released back to Pioneer Racing.
Some media outlets raised questions Paprota’s ability to race, but his opponents expressed confidence on his readiness. Bagwell praised Paprota’s racecraft, dismissing comments that his physical condition was a factor in the crash: “I think he’s a capable race driver and I think everybody deserves an opportunity. We’ve tried to help him as much as we could. We learned about him through Bobby Allison. That’s a pretty good reference.” Fellow racer Dr. Tom Brewer, who as Paprota drove a Pontiac in that race, said that “[Paprota has proven] that he’s been able to race safely with us at other tracks.” Justin Hobgood, who won the Dash event at Daytona in 2001, completed: “I don't think there's any way that anybody - me with both my legs - could have avoided it. When you're running that fast, especially in these cars, when you're running a speed, which he probably was running 100 miles per hour by that time, there's no way you can stop these cars in that distance. He spun his car and hit the wall trying to do what he had to do. There's no way. You can't turn the steering wheel and [have] the car turn. The car's going to go straight no matter what you do because force is going to make it do it.” Hobgood also gave his impression of the events that led to the accident: “The understanding I had was he was coming off the pits and the guy [Weaver] jumped off the truck at the same time. It was almost instant. He had no idea. No way of turning. Third gear you're running 120 miles per hour. If you take off hard you can easily be running 120, 130 miles per hour.” Race organizers shared those opinions. Raymond Claypoole, speaking on behalf of the officials, stated “We felt very confident he was ready to compete here,” Claypoole said. “(During winter testing) he did very well. He was able to run up to speed and was able to be in the draft.”
The debate about the crash in which Weaver extended to other aspects as well. Some drivers – like Wally Sherwood, who also raced in the IPOWERacing Dash 150, questioned the fact that marshals were – and are – allowed to enter the race track whilst cars are running – even at slower sleeps, as determined by the use of yellow flags. Sherwood argued that "A procedure needs to be developed that would slow the cars down when track workers are physically on the track", adding "It's sad that it takes something like this to get their attention. The guy went on the racetrack to do his job and he was killed. They shouldn't be on the track unless they're 100 percent sure there's no danger." Jeff Tillman, who was running behind Paprota, said that the accident happened in what he called the most vulnerable spot in Daytona. “The worker was standing in the middle of the track when he hit him”, said Tillman. “It flipped him over the car. That’s one corner you can’t really see coming around the track. It's blind in there, you have maybe 200 yards of visibility, and at 120 mph, which is about what he was running, you can’t do anything.” The fact that Weaver was on the race track seemed odd to Tillman: “When you’re [speaking from a driver’s perspective] out there, you don’t expect somebody to be on the track. The driver didn’t have any fault at all”.
Tillman’s colleague Wally Leatherwood echoed his words: “I don’t know how fast he [Paprota] was going, but it had to be over 100 miles per hour. It’s a bad deal. These guys risk their lives to protect the drivers.” Leatherwood added: “The guy [Weaver] went on the racetrack to do his job and he was killed. They shouldn’t be on the track unless they’re 100% sure there’s no danger. I think there needed to be a little better communication between emergency workers to let them know there’s cars on the track”. Matt Barnes, driver of the Pontiac number 55, thought the race would be cancelled after the accident: “I did think they were going to call the race at lap nineteen”. Justin Hobgood said about the same subject that “There was talk they were just going to call the race right there. At the time I think it probably would've been the appropriate thing to do. It's hard to say because really human beings are more important than a race, but I didn't make that call.” Randy Humphrey was equally shocked: “Me and my crew, we talked about parking it. I didn't want to go on. I've never seen anything like that. God almighty, I'm telling you, it freaks me out.”
Tillman, having been a key witness of the accident, struggled after it and was also surprised to see that the competition was resumed. Having finished the event in a low thirty-second place, he “was rattled pretty good, too. But you do what you’ve got to do. If you go out there thinking [about the fatal accident], you’re going to get someone else killed.” Tillman, who is a former teammate of Jeff Clinton, who died in a sportscar race in Homestead in 2002, completed his thoughts: “I go through this about once a year. It's a big-boy's sport. It was pretty tough, but I've been through it before”.
Just hours after the accident the IPOWERacing organization declared its intention to open a private investigation about the circumstances heading to the death of Roy Weaver. In parallel, the following day, Monday, an investigator with the inspection agency Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) office in Jacksonville, FL, was sent to Daytona to determine whether any federal labor standards were violated during the race. On 06 August, almost six months after the tragedy, OSHA released an official report concluding that Daytona International Speedway officials failed to take enough action to keep Roy Weaver from running onto the track to pick up debris. The he circuit administrators of the circuit received a fine of 6,300 dollars to the facility for not having a written protocol that dictates when workers can enter the track. In supporting its conclusions, the OSHA document mentioned that the Daytona International Speedway neglected “industry-recognized standards outlined by the National Fire Protection Association Handbook that the track implemented more than fourteen years before after an emergency crew was knocked into the air and severely injured following a collision during a race”. Besides the citation related to Weaver’s death, OSHA booked the Daytona International Speedway for twelve other violations, including the facts that a security employee was spot without hearing protection and that a track worker was not wearing a helmet. The total of fines levied was of 11,175 dollars. The Daytona speedway immediately contested these finals.
Amidst all this, the IPOWER takeover did not provide Dash the expected upturn. After the fatidic inaugural race in Daytona, the championship struggled to complete six more events before the remaining of the schedule was "suspended" – and actually cancelled. The death of Roy Weaver was one of the contributing factors that brought the series: as Wally Leatherwood said soon after the accident, “Unfortunately, we’re now the series that killed a corner worker at Daytona.”
Most believed that the cancellation of the 2004 races would be the last breath in Dash's history, but Parker was resolute to fight. He tried to orchestrate a comeback the next year, but the series main event – a race prior to the Daytona 500, scheduled for 13 February and which had been part of the Daytona Speed Weeks for twenty-six years - was cancelled on 12 January since Parker could not raise the necessary funding. The press immediately reported that the IPOWER Dash series schedule was “cancelled”. Indeed, Parker announced four days later in an open letter addressed to the participants that the whole 2005 IPOWER Dash season schedule was suspended, outlining that “at this time, all events are on hold, pending the sale or investment into the series. The season opening event at Daytona International Speedway was cancelled. Other 2005 scheduled events have been placed on hold."
Two weeks later Parker tried his last resort: selling the series on Ebay – as a single package, including assets such as rulebook, membership list, technical equipment, a Featherlite trailer, two race cars (without engines), track contacts, web site, track agreements and historical material. Even though the starting price was merely 100,000 dollars, no bidders show up – what brought a final conclusion to Dash's enduring troubles.
A few weeks later, on 22 February 2005, the Daytona International Speedway and OSHA signed a settlement about the citations resulting from the inspection carried out after the death of Roy Weaver. The race track committed to develop written guidelines, a clear chain of command during races and training policies for cleanup personnel who are “exposed to the hazard of being struck by moving competition vehicles while performing their duties on or near the competition area during a motorsports competition event.” Such guidelines were to take effect by 30 July 2005. The circuit also committed to train its safety teams at least once a year and strengthen radio communication between the control tower and those on the ground tending to accident situations. On the other hand, OSHA withdrew its most serious citation against the track – the one involving the death of Roy Weaver. Also, the settlement agreement states that the OSHA report “are not intended to be admitted in any action in state court or federal court as evidence of negligence or lack of due care by the Speedway.”
In commenting the settlement Daytona spokesman David Talley said the track has been training its safety crews “forever” and while stating “We are glad OSHA has recognized we provide a safe work environment for our employees”, admitted that the circuit had no written guidelines or protocols to regulate the work of its safety crews. On this concern, James Borders, OSHA Director for the Jacksonville office, commented: “Having something in writing that you can train off of really does increase the consistency of following that policy. That was the problem here. Their unwritten procedure was not effectively enforced and followed. Now that's in writing, hopefully it will be.” The Daytona International Speedway immediately filed an initial policy for training, equipment and safety of clean-up crew personnel with OSHA. On these papers, Borders commented “It does not get approved by us, but it does cover the concerns we had such as chain of command and things of that nature. We believe we got what we were looking for which was a written policy and procedures and employee training program.”
In fact, changes to procedures for track clean-up during races at the Daytona International Speedway had started a year before, as the investigation carried out by the circuit on the accident in which Roy Weaver lost his life had found similar conclusions. Although Daytona officials stressed the fact that Weaver entered the track “without an all-clear”, by the 2004 Pepsi 400, held in July of that year, race officials already operated under new safety guidelines, dealing with how safety crews communicate and respond to wrecks and how track-related orders are given from the Nextel Tower.
But if OSHA and the Daytona International Speedway seemed satisfied by the outcome of their accident investigations, the Weaver family had a different opinion. Supported by lawyer Angelo Pattaco Jr., in July of 2005 Linda Weaver filed a lawsuit against the Daytona International Speedway and other parties over the death of her husband. The suit claimed that “the track lacked adequate safety procedures and the driver who struck him was traveling too fast” and that drivers continued to “strike, drive over, desecrate and mutilate" as officials did not immediately stop the race. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal the lawsuit “seeks an unspecified amount of damages in excess of $75,000”, and Daytona International Speedway spokesperson David Talley stated that the suit “is seeking millions of dollars”. Defendants named in the suit include International Speedway Corp., IPOWER Racing and also Ray Paprota. The current status of this case is unknown. That same year Linda Weaver and children participated in the eighth edition of the television program Amazing Race, broadcast by network CBS, in which families compete in a worldwide gymkhana. The Weavers were classified in third place amongst the ten families that took part in the show.
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