RELATED: Stewart hospitalized after back injury
While much of what happened with NASCAR superstar Tony Stewart‘s all-terrain vehicle accident over the weekend remains unclear, at least one of the people he was driving with has shared details of the day.
NHRA legend Don Prudhomme was one of a handful of people — also including NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, Jeff Gordon and Ray Evernham, who were riding ATVs with Stewart on Sunday in western Arizona when the three-time Sprint Cup Series champion was seriously injured.
The Stewart-Haas Racing team revealed Thursday that the three-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion Stewart has an L1 vertebrae fracture in his back, underwent surgery after being transported from the West Coast to Charlotte, North Carolina, and will be out of competition for much of the early season. No precise timetable was given for his return date, although team officials said he would compete in 2016 — already announced to be Stewart’s last full-time season in the Cup Series.
RELATED: Dr. Jerry Punch explains a ‘burst fracture’
Prudhomme told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio that he was among the group that first noticed Stewart was missing and was present when another rider came up and informed them someone was hurt and needed immediate aid.
“We had made our stop and someone came riding up and said, ‘Hey, one of your buddies was hurt on the other side of the hill here,’ Prudhomme told host Dave Moody. “So we came to it … the car is sitting upright and Tony is laying next to it. So we went up to him and said ‘Hey man, you cool?’ He said ‘My back.’ We didn’t let him move or anything, but we found out he could move his legs and so on. We could see exactly what happened. He came off one of the dunes and landed really hard and hurt his back big time.” Prudhomme said his group immediately went to Stewart and that Evernham, in particular, really took charge of lending aid. Prudhomme said, Gordon, Evernham and car collector Ron Pratte carefully transported Stewart back to Pratte’s property nearby and a helicopter came in to airlift Stewart to a hospital in Palm Springs, California. “When (Stewart) was laid out next to us … Tony, you know he hadn’t shaved and he had shorts on and you’re like ‘Damn, man. You don’t look so good here,’ ” Prudhomme said. “And you just can’t walk out of the dunes. You have to ride out. It’d be like in Desert Storm or something, it’d be really tough. We got him in Ron Pratte’s buggy so we could kind of drive out of the dunes. “Pretty much once we got to a spot where the helicopter came in, I was carrying Tony, he had his arm around me and Ray Evernham on the other side. You know, he’s a big guy. He was hurting big time, but he wasn’t complaining. The guy who really, really helped a ton was Ray. Because there was a helicopter pilot, someone had to go with Tony … and Ray jumped in and he was the guy that really kind of took over and made all the right decisions.”
Prudhomme also said that Stewart was awake throughout the rescue ordeal on Sunday and again when he visited him at the hospital later. “I just want to make one thing clear: (Stewart) had his helmet on, he had his seat belt stuff on right, he wasn’t driving crazy,” Prudhomme said. “He just took an unfortunate hit in the back going over this jump. That’s pretty much what it amounted to. It wasn’t like a wild story about Tony Stewart getting crazy and (expletive) like that. He just took the wrong hit.” Fellow Sprint Cup driver Greg Biffle was also among the group riding that day but wasn’t with Stewart at the time of the accident. Riding the dunes is a longtime hobby for Biffle, who offered his support of Stewart when speaking on SirisuXM NASCAR radio with host Claire B. Lang earlier this week. MORE: Biffle: Stewart was in pain “I wasn’t near what went on and didn’t really see what happened,” Biffle told Lang. “But the dunes are unpredictable, and you can land harder on some spots than others. I’ve knocked the wind out of myself, thought I broke my tailbone before. … Things can happen. I don’t know exactly the situation of what happened. But it can be done.” Biffle added, “I’m guessing he probably landed hard because the car wasn’t really damaged. It’s all pure speculation that he just landed hard, I don’t know what might have gone (on).” Biffle explained that Stewart’s accident was serious, but also an unusual outcome of drivers just enjoying their time off like anybody else. “We’re passionate about motorsports and we know there’s an element of risk,” Biffle said. “We go snow skiing, ride motorcycles like everyone else. Ride jet skis or go on boats or do whatever, I wouldn’t say all the guys are extreme sports enthusiasts outside the track. We’re not doing anything Nitro Circus or doing anything crazy. “Bobby Labonte broke his wrist riding a bike. A lot of these guys ride bikes like Jimmie (Johnson) and Matt (Kenseth). You just have to use your best judgment and caution when you’re going through this stuff. I do. “When I’m at the sand dunes it’s pure heaven. I’m just going to be safe about it. And accidents can happen no matter what you’re doing.”