Stick Shift Star Comes Up Big To Support Fellow Racer Following WCF Crash

As racers, we sign up for all of the risks that come with unpredictable, dangerous, side-by-side competition — even those that are out of our control. On the highway, laws exist to hold drivers accountable for their mistakes or misfortunes, but there’s no obligation for any driver to cover the repair costs of another individual’s racecar on a closed dragstrip. But the moral obligation to support a fellow racer was too much for Joel Grannas.

Grannas, one of stick-shift racing’s perennial frontrunners, was involved in a scary crash with Vlad Yeutushenko in the opening round of qualifying at the World Cup Finals at Maryland International Raceway, when his Toyota Supra struck the tires and turned right into the path of Yeutushenko’s oncoming, newly-built Supra. The resulting impact caused heavy damage to both cars and ignited a brief fire from Yeutushenko’s machine. Both cars were beyond repair and each loaded up for a somber ride home.

“I have no hard feelings toward Joel Grannas,” Yeutushenko said in his recount of the incident. “I’m extremely sad about the situation, but I think I’m allowed that. If my car did what his car did I wouldn’t have been able to save it either. It has nothing to do with the track or surface, something happened to the car — whether it was a part failure or simply spinning the tire. You’re just along for the ride. If you’d like to support me then support Joel. I don’t have any merchandise to sell you or a GoFundMe, but he has merchandise and cool racecar parts. I look forward to seeing his Supra back.”

“My heart hurts for Vlad,” Grannas said in the hours after the crash. “I would be way less upset if I hit the wall on my own; taking out another car is probably the worst feeling I’ve experienced in racing. [The car] left soft and smooth, I had clutch setup soft to make a 6.8-second pass, nothing crazy, but it spun the tire at the top of first gear and hit the limiter, then made a crazy fast, hard right. I was just along for the ride on this one.”

“I don’t know that I’ll be back to this level of racing or any racing, the financial hit and the stress I put my family through is tough to recover from,” Yeutushenko added. “This was more than a random Supra, this was a car I drooled over as a young kid. The car was immaculate, there wasn’t a scratch on it. I spent hundreds of hours and an embarrassing amount of money building and wiring it for my liking and only made two full passes with it.”

Grannas, feeling the weight of the incident, sprung into action to support his fellow competitor — he committed to donating 100-percent of the funds he received via merchandise sales through the weekend to Yeutushenko to fund the repairs to his once-shiny Supra.

And the fans responded en masse.

On Tuesday morning, Grannas totaled up the gross sales and made a check out to Yeutushenko for a sizable $40,000. When you consider that margins on apparel can often be as much as 50-percent, that represents a significant contribution from Grannas himself.

“Vlad, hopefully this gets you well on your way to fixing that car and getting back out on the track so we can race again. I’m super proud of the racing community and the Supra community for coming through on this and helping Vlad out. I couldn’t have done it without you guys — this is awesome.

“Unreal,” Yeutushenko said in appreciation for the gesture. “Thank you Joel and thank you to everyone who helped support so far. There is no way in good conscience I can take people’s donations and not rebuild this car. It will take some time but I’ll do everything I can to fix this thing up. I’m blown away. You’re a good man, Joel.”