While Dominican racer Jose Gonzalez was earning his first career NHRA national event title in the lane next to him, all eyes were on fan-favorite racer Steve Jackson in the Pro Modified final round of the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Sunday at the zMax Dragway in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Jackson, who runnered-up in the four-wide contest, beating out Rickie Smith and Brandon Snider, lost control of his Bahrain 1 supercharged Camaro at the finish stripe, striking the right hand guardrail before ricocheting back off of both walls in the shutdown area. Jackson climbed from the battered machine under his own power and, ever-positive, was still flashing his trademark smile as safety personnel tended to his racecar. Jackson was taken to a local hospital for evaluation, where CT scans and X-rays came back negative.

Said Jackson in a public statement: Thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers. We finished second. But our horse is wounded. KTR and Bahrain 1 will be back.”

With less than a month to prepare for the next stop on the tour, the Heartland Nationals at Topeka, Kansas, chassis builder Jerry Bickel and team will be busily making repairs to get Jackson, currently second in the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Pro Mod Drag Racing Series standings, back into the fight.