Kalib Henry OK after serious crash at Brad Doty Classic

Update: A post on the Kalib Henry Racing Facebook page at 1:15 a.m. indicated that Henry is making a positive recovery after being extricated from his sprint car. The post read: "Kalib's preliminary scans have come back clear. At this time there is no indications of any further head, neck, or back injuries. More assessment will be completed when final test results are received and evaluated. Further updates will be provided when available. Kalib's family, team, and friends have seen the messages and outpouring of support. While we cannot respond to everyone, we are incredibly grateful for everyone's thoughts and prayers during this time." Mike Henry, Kalib's father, posted Wednesday morning. From that post: "As of now it's our understanding that the scans they have done show no broken bones, but has most of his pain in his lower back. At some point there will be an MRI of his head and back to rule out any head trauma and find the source of the back pain. He's also very sore and bruised. A lot has happened in a short time. We made it here at 7 this a.m. and we were able to chat with him." ----- ATTICA — Kalib Henry was fighting to transfer to the A-Main when a violent crash ended his night and brought the sellout crowd at the Brad Doty Classic to a silent halt Tuesday night at Attica Raceway Park. Henry made contact with Brady Bacon in Turn 4 near the end of the Last Chance Showdown and appeared to fly into the guardrail cage first. Emergency personnel were on the scene quickly and worked for several minutes to extricate Henry. The damaged wing of his 410 sprint car had to be cut off and Henry was carefully placed on a backboard. Henry signaled to the crowd by raising his right arm as he was placed into an ambulance. The crash delayed the World of Outlaws show for more than a hour. The 40-lap A-Main began after the Register's deadline. Henry, 25, was transported to the backstretch at ARP where a helicopter arrived to take him to a hospital in Toledo for further evaluation. He reportedly was complaining about back pain. "Kalib is alert, moving, and communicating with safety crews," a post on Henry's Facebook page noted while he was still at the track. "He is being transported to a nearby hospital for further evaluation. We will provide updates when more information is available." Track officials at the Outlaws event announced that Henry was moving his extremities and that the helicopter transport was called out of an abundance of caution. The helicopter lifted off at 10:06 p.m. to respectful applause. Bacon climbed out of his car after the crash and was OK. Bacon posted a message Wednesday on Facebook and expressed remorse for the incident. "We were racing hard on the final lap for the final transfer spot to the A main," Bacon wrote. "I made a move to try to slide across and beat him to the exit of turn 4. He got a big run on the top and I did not clear him. I made contact with him resulting in the wreck. I am disappointed that I put us both in that situation and obviously even more disappointed in the results that followed. "My thoughts and prayers are with Kalib, his family, friends and team. I would like to thank the safety and medical teams for the care and caution they provided Kalib at the track. I hope the news concerning his condition continues to be positive and wish him a quick and complete recovery." Henry, who is from Sacramento, Calif., moved to the area last year and is a regular at sprint races at Attica and Fremont. He finished eighth in the World of Outlaws A-Main in May. Last year, he qualified for the A-Main in both Outlaws races, finishing fifth in May. The A-Main started with NASCAR star Kyle Larson on the pole. Buddy Kofoid was on the outside in Row 1 for the 40-lap feature that paid $15,000 to the winner. Defending champion David Gravel was the fastest qualifier with a lap of 12.219 seconds and started on the inside of Row 4. Larson was second in qualifying at 12.225. Local results Cap Henry from Bellevue finished fourth in Heat 2 to transfer to the A-Main. The top five in each of four heat races qualified for the 40-lap finale. Sandusky's Chris Andrews finished 10th in the first heat and was knocked out of the C-Main when he crashed after making contact with Fremont's Mike Keegan. Andrews had the inside line and was moving into third place when the contact occurred. Jordan Ryan from Castalia made contact with Brock Zearfoss early in the fourth heat and flipped in front of the flag stand. He walked away OK. Also in Heat 4, Castalia's Larry Kingseed Jr. was knocked out of the race when he made contact with Fremont's D.J. Foos on the backstretch. Foos finished sixth. In the B-Main, Kingseed flipped and his car was hauled away by a wrecker. Kingseed appeared to be OK and walked off the dirt track. Sticky situation Chris Andrews was applying WoO sponsor stickers to his 15c before the drivers meeting Tuesday afternoon. It's a requirement if drivers want to get paid. Andrews has one 410 feature win at ARP this season and is looking for a good run as the summer heats up. He said he enjoys racing against the Outlaws, but it is a challenge. "You can tell these guys race for a living," Andrews said. "They don't play. It's a lot different than local racing, but it's fun to race with them. "It's a totally different type of driving style. It's cool to have a job back home and do this for fun and race with these guys." Andrews is the CEO of Ohio Truck Sales in Sandusky. He was the 410 Rookie of the Year in 2007, beating out a field that included Kyle Larson. "Only blemish on his career," Andrews joked. "I'm sure if they could go back they'd like to give it to him." Andrews, whose sponsor roster includes Hulk Hogan's Real American Beer, said the local drivers have one edge against the Outlaws: familiarity with ARP. "More so probably in qualifying," he said. "We go pretty hard in qualifying; we're right on the edge here at Attica. Like on the edge. Just knowing how to push the limits is everything." Doty's night Brad Doty made the rounds before Tuesday's race, signing autographs, addressing the drivers and chatting up race officials and fans. The sprint car legend from Apple Creek, Ohio, was very happy with the weather (hot but dry). "This is the first year in a long time we haven't had a forecast predicting some sort of weather," Doty said before the drivers meeting. "It's a little warm, but we'll take that over rain any day." Doty won 18 WoO features and was WoO series runner-up in 1987. His racing career came to an end in 1988 when he was paralyzed in an accident at Eldora Speedway. "The next year they had a benefit race here," Doty said. "That was with another sanctioning body. They went away and the track decided to have an annual race called the Brad Doty Classic in my honor. "I was very honored to have my name affiliated. In 2005 I became a co-promoter and have been a co-promoter ever since." Doty, like any racer worth his salt, then rattled off race sponsors, including Ohio Logistics and Racing Optics, which have been affiliated with the Doty for 18 years. Baby's first race Jesse Hord, 1 month old, attended his first race Tuesday at ARP. Jesse is the son of Jacob and Emma Hord from Bucyrus. Jacob Hord is the social media manager at the Attica track and Emma took photos at the Brad Doty Classic. "This is my favorite race and I figured it'd be pretty cool to have him here," Jacob said. The Hords hung out in the air-conditioned press box and Jesse seemed content with the festivities. Before the race, the Hords got a picture with Brad Doty. Emma was asked if Jesse was a good baby. "When he's fussy, I can turn on NASCAR or other racing and he gets quiet," Emma said. "He already likes it."