Jacob Harper, known as “Big Jake”, is a known grudge racer who puts on some of the most exciting racing events in the country, and he did just that at the NorthStar Raceway in Denton, Texas with the Octoberfest “Brawl in the Fall” over the weekend. That was, until an unfortunate and frightening accident brought things to a screeching halt.

The first round of small tire racing was about to get underway after an afternoon of testing and tuning. The crowd looked on with excitement to see the first pair out, with Nolan Bradshaw facing off against Rebecca Stuart in a matchup of black, nitrous-assisted Ford Mustangs.

The two did their burnouts and purged their nitrous as they pulled into the beams getting ready to stage. The lights turned green and Stuart pulled ahead immediately, with the wheels up, as Bradshaw took off shortly behind. Stuart landed hard, sparks flying from the undercarriage, and, after landing, her car started pulling to the left due to a blowout in the front tire and a bent wheel.

At this moment, Bradshaw pulled ahead, aligning himself with Stuart’s trajectory. In an interview afterward, Stuart recalls that she battled with the wheel to try to pull right, but the force and momentum of the car with the flat wouldn’t allow it to budge. Her leftward trajectory sent her crashing into Bradshaw’s car, and his into the guardrail. Stuart said that her attempts to hit the brakes were futile as it only caused the car to get pulled more to the left, grinding Bradshaw’s car along the guardrail.

Bradshaw got trapped by the momentum of Stuarts’ car, pulling both to the left in a blink of an eye. After grinding the wall, Bradshaw’s flipped end-over-end over the wall, landing upside down on a motorhome parked along the fence. The hatch from Brawshaw’s car flew 100 feet in the air as parts were scattered everywhere from the impact.

Amazingly, no spectators were seriously injured and Bradshaw climbed out of the car, as the Northstar crew jumped immediately into action to clear the area and tend to him. Stuart’s car continued downtrack and she quickly jumped out to check on Bradshaw. The on-site paramedics took Bradshaw quickly out of the area and to the hospital to assess him as a precaution.

Bradshaw suffered some bumps and bruises with some cuts to his legs. Stuart had a minor cut to her wrist, along with bumps, bruises, and general soreness.

“Big Jake” met with the rest of the racers to let them know that Bradshaw and Stuart were fine and that unfortunately racing could not continue for the night due to damage to the timing system. They decided to donate the pot money to Bradshaw in an amazing gesture in this unfortunate situation. In the midst of a serious freak accident, the Texas racers really pulled together with the track to make a positive from a horrific scene.