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Legendary crew chief Ray Evernham recalled the events of the weekend of Jan. 30-31 surrounding Tony Stewart's injury while riding sand rails in the sand dunes near the Arizona-California border.
Don Prudhomme, a veteran NHRA driver, said last week that Evernham was a leader on the scene of the accident and rode the rescue helicopter with Stewart from the dunes to the hospital.
In his regular Tuesday appearance on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Evernham said he received way too much credit for his actions during the efforts to get Stewart to help.
Evernham said Jeff Gordon volunteered to fly to the hospital with Stewart, but he said, "Really, dude, you're going to roll into a hospital with Tony Stewart? That's gonna turn into a zoo so quick."
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"The chopper flight was pretty interesting," Evernham told host Dave Moody. "When we landed it was a little bit funny because the first thing they did was question us. They're like, 'Where did you get this helicopter?' ... It finally dawned on me, holy mackerel, they think that we're drug runners.
"We finally got Tony to the hospital and got him some care."
Evernham emphasized that blaming Stewart for the accident was uncalled for.
"The speeds were very low," Evernham said, echoing what fellow dune riding enthusiast Greg Biffle said last week.
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Evernham said the accident overshadowed what had been a great gathering of racers with many good stories to tell.
"Some day we can talk about the fun things. Sitting around the camp fire listening to Don Prudhomme is like sitting with the Godfather," Evernham said.
He also said he learned some things about his fellow NASCAR competitors.
"I was impressed with my man RW," Evernham said. "Rusty Wallace has some dirt skills. Don’t let anyone fool you."
Stewart had back surgery last week, and it was unclear when he'd be able to return to racing in the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Chevrolet SS.