Dearborn Defends Himself after White Mountain Crash
Posted By Tj Ingerson On June 3, 2014
Categories: Pro All Stars Series
PHOTO: Richie Dearborn (#33) slides down the frontstretch wall at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night after contact with Glen Luce (#7). On Tuesday, Dearborn offered his side of the incident. (Photo courtesy Norm Marx/PASS)
--by Michael Stridsberg (@OntheMike43)
VMM Correspondent
HOLLIS, Maine -- Even when he gets the worst of the deal, Richie Dearborn just can’t escape controversy on the race track these days.
Dearborn was running second to Glen Luce coming to a restart on lap 75 of the PASS North Littleton Chevrolet 150 at White Mountain Motorsports Park on Saturday night. As the two came to the line, contact was made, sending both into the wall and Dearborn sliding into turn one in a shower of sparks. Although Luce was able to continue, Dearborn was forced to retire from the event with significant damage.
Immediately after the event, Luce blamed Dearborn for the crash. Speaking by phone on Tuesday, Dearborn disputed Luce’s version of events.
“I’m not really sure (what happened),” the Hollis, Maine driver said. “When we took off we were pretty even, and all of a sudden, I don’t know if he spun the tires and got sideways and overcorrected or what but we were in the wall.”
Dearborn noted that he has videos of all his races, and claims that the video evidence vindicates him in this case.
“(Luce) says I hit him first, but…the video shows that he hit me first,” Dearborn said. “He was on me when I was on the wall the whole time. He still had his foot in it the whole way.
“One of his crew guys came over and told me he had no power steering…if he couldn’t steer it with no power steering, he shouldn’t have been out there.”
The incident was the second notable one in as many races for the part-time PASS competitor. At Star Speedway on May 10, Dearborn and Cassius Clark made contact late in the race battling for second. Clark spun out, and Dearborn went on to claim his second runner-up finish of the season. Dearborn did not attend the May 17 event at Autodrome Chaudiere.
When asked if he was concerned that his perception or reputation among other drivers might be affected, Dearborn admitted that he wasn’t sure.
“All I know is I want to race, and I’m competitive – every time I get into an incident it’s my fault (according to other drivers),” he said. “I’m got videos to prove these last two incidents weren’t my fault. They’re not going to own up to it either, but that’s the way it goes.
“I hate it for my guys, they work really hard. Now we got a wrecked race car and haven’t got any reason for it.”
The team is still assessing the extent of the damage to the car, which they had acquired for the 2014 season. Dearborn’s next scheduled event is at Beech Ridge on July 5, but he acknowledged that even that date could be up in the air.
“We should know better today (what’s wrong); we got a lot of the stuff off (the car) last night that was destroyed,” he said. “It’s a lot of money for what (Luce) called a racing accident – we pretty much need a new car.
“Nothing’s resolved, and it probably won’t be. That’s the way it is, I guess…if they want to race this way, I guess they will.”