Inside the aftermath of frightening Bathurst crash
Paul Weel opens up on scary 2008 Bathurst crash
Weel hit by Chris Pither after crashing across the Mountain
Weel suffered back, spleen, lung injuries in incident
Paul Weel has opened up on the frightening Bathurst crash that not only ended his Supercars career, but left him "very fortunate to live."
Weel started 103 Supercars races across a decade-long career, but his time in Supercars was cut short after a scary incident during practice at the 2008 Bathurst 1000.
Sharing a Holden VE Commodore with Andrew Thompson for his single-car team, Weel spun into the wall across the top of the Mountain, coming to rest in the middle of the track.
The stranded Weel was hit by Chris Pither's Team Kiwi Racing Ford Falcon, heavily damaging both cars and injuring Weel.
Weel suffered fractures in his back, a split spleen and a punctured lung in the crash, which ultimately ruled both cars out of the race. Then aged 29, Weel never raced a Supercar again, but has since returned in Trophy Truck competition.
"I got nailed, drilled... I was very, very fortunate to live," Weel recounted on the Gypsy Tales podcast.
"I split my spleen, I broke my L1 to L5, fractured, and punctured a lung... I remember getting hit, I remember going into the ambulance, but I don't remember the trip down the Mountain. But I remember being in the medical centre."
Weel's wife was staying with friends nearby Orange, 57km from Bathurst, when the crash happened. It led to a mad dash from Orange to Bathurst, and then to Sydney, where Weel was hospitalised at Westmead.
"We were holding the helicopter up because my wife was in Orange, staying at my mate Tim Leahey's place. I used to stay there before the race, then came down to race week, so my wife Emma would stay there with his wife and then come for over for the race on Sunday," he continued.
"They had the TV on and had it on mute, they were walking past the TV getting ready to go out to a winery on the Friday.
"Emma's getting phone calls and she finally answers Tim, who says, 'You need to get your arse here now'. She says, 'Why, what for, lunch?' He goes, 'Get in the car, get here now, as fast as you can'.
"So they knew nothing of it until Tim rang, we were waiting for her to get to the track so that the helicopter could take me to Sydney to Westmead [Hospital]. They had no passes, they got straight to the medical centre and straight onto the helicopter."
Weel made 10 Bathurst starts with best finishes of eighth in 1999 and 2006. The 2008 event was set to be his 11th, but it wasn't to be.
The injury didn't slow him down, Weel returning to racing in 2009 with fifth overall in the Sepang 12 Hours, before returning in Stadium Super Trucks and off-road racing. Weel recently linked up with Aussie off-road ace Toby Price, with the duo winning the Baja 500 this year.
"I was in the spinal and neuro [ward] on Westmead, which was a very good hospital. The physio came in about two days later and asked if I had been up and about. I said, 'I can't move, I'm so sore'. I was purple and orange and red and yellow down my back and down each side of my package," Weel added.
"I hopped up and tried to stand and started screaming, something's not right, had to lie back down. We went and got X-rays and went to the spinal surgeon who was on call that day and the spinal surgeon comes in and says, 'The reason you're screaming because you broke your L1 to L5', which they missed it in intensive care when I came in through emergency.
"I couldn't fly home because of the nick to the lung... so Emma had to drive home and she hit every pothole on the way home from Sydney to the Gold Coast, I swear, on purpose!
"That [crash] ended [my Supercars career]."
