Driver still in critical condition

CEDAR RAPIDS - For the second time in less than a year, a driver has been critically injured as the result of an accident in competition at Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids.

INEX Legends car racer Joan Feller was hospitalized Friday from injuries sustained in a last-lap crash during Friday night's main event at Hawkeye Downs.

Cars were coming to the checkered flag and the finish of the event when a car driven by Sammy Smith spun and was stalled on the track. Feller, who was behind Smith on track, was unable to avoid Smith and hit head-on against the right-front of his vehicle.

Feller was found unresponsive by medical personnel who arrived on scene seconds after the accident and as soon as the rest of the field had passed by.

Some 1,000 fans were in attendance during the race and would have witnessed the crash, according to estimates.

Late Model racer and Cedar Rapids Fire Department Battalion Chief Brian Gibson, who sprinted from the pit area out to the accident scene to assist first responders, said Feller did not have a pulse when she was removed from the car.

Gibson assisted Cedar Rapids Police Department Officer John McDaniel in CPR before she was transported by ambulance to Mercy Medical Center in Cedar Rapids, and then later by helicopter to University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics in Iowa City.

Christina England of Gilford, N.H., who identified herself as Feller's niece, posted on Facebook that Feller was in 'serious critical condition.” But as of Saturday evening, there was no official confirmation as to her condition from UIHC, and she was said to be still 'fighting the fight,” according to Hawkeye Downs's officials.

Smith was uninjured in the crash.

Feller's accident comes 10 and a half months after 68-year-old John Pickart was killed in a Race 'Em and Wreck 'Em event held at the speedway on Sept. 13, 2014. He was killed when the RV he was racing overturned in Turn 4 of the quarter-mile track at Hawkeye Downs.

‘I just love the sport'

Feller is a 1980 graduate of Benton Community High School and has been involved in racing since 2000. In an unpublished interview with The Gazette before the 2015 racing season, Feller said she has loved racing for a long time and helped on various friends' crews in the sport.

This season is her first behind the wheel. It has fulfilled a long-standing dream of being a part of the action on the track, and though she said in the spring the learning curve was steep, she was having fun doing so.

She lauded promoter Kevin Korsmo for his help in bringing her along.

'I just love the sport. I fell in love with it. I saved up three years, got the car and I'm going for it,” Feller said in May. '…

I don't think people realize how difficult it is and how much mental energy goes into racing a car around this track.

'I've gotten a lot down that I never thought I'd get down. It's fun. It's fun to race. It's a neat division and very nice people in this division, too.”

She is a devout Christian and had Bible verses on all sides of her blue No. 12 Legends car. Members of her pit crew on race weekends are fellow members of her church. Feller also is an avid Joey Gase fan as a member of his fan club and has attended several races in which Gase competed, including several at Kansas Speedway and regularly at Iowa Speedway.

Feller works as a special-education teacher at Wilkins Elementary School in Marion, said Sandie Rohrer, a spokeswoman for the Linn-Mar Community School District.

The district's thoughts and hearts go out to Feller's family, and the district is available to support those who know her, Superintendent Quintin Shepherd said in a prepared statement.

Feller is a 'well-respected faculty member,” said Katie Mulholland, the former Linn-Mar superintendent who retired June 30.

Feller began teaching at the Linn-Mar school district in August 2002, first at Bowman Woods Elementary for five years, then spending the last eight at Wilkins.

She taught second and fourth grade at Center Point-Urbana from 1988-1998.

Strict guidelines

Both Feller and Smith's cars were impounded by Hawkeye Downs and kept on site for further investigation as to the root of her injuries.

The Legends division is sanctioned by INEX, which has strict guidelines for safety - including, but not limited to, a required head and neck support device - such as the HANS Device - a five-point safety harness and a quick-release steering wheel.

'As I know it, it's an investigation as a sporting event accident for the sake of insurance - since we won't probably be able to talk to them (investigators) until Monday,” promoter Korsmo said. 'Both cars will be impounded, and we will have them put away in case they do need to see the cars.”

As it relates to Hawkeye Downs itself, whatever comes out of a major injury to a competitor is pending the investigation by an insurance company.

When Pickart was killed last September, Fort Wayne, Ind.-based K&K Insurance Group was the provider. A K&K representative said a promoter will seek out an insurance company for an event, apply and purchase a policy depending on the underwriter's determination.

There is no one set of guidelines for a given level of coverage, K&K Marketing Manager Lorena Hatfield said this past September, but rather an underwriter sets the policy on a case-by-case basis.

Many of the underwriters have been working in racing - in all areas - for decades.

'At K&K we have very specific underwriting applications that have to be filled out, and of course our underwriters ask questions about what goes on at the event,” Hatfield said. 'Depending on the size of the racetrack or the type of racing involved, there might be different types of questions asked. It's a very individualized process.”

The rate or even availability of insurance coverage, then, depends on the facility's quality and what will take place during the event. Risk management is key in determining the coverage.

Racing events cannot be held without it, and the insurance companies take their job very seriously.

'It really depends on the types of activities. It also depends on the types of loss-control measures in place,” Hatfield said. 'Some might have a facility that has more appropriate safety features in place. They might get a better price for the account.

'There may be some events that are excluded based on lack of certain types of safety procedures. Past records come into play as well.”

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jerermiah.davis@the gazette.com

Reporter Andrew Phillips contributed to this story.