Witness thought no one was alive in Michael Waltrip crash
Quote selected text Published April 12th, 2007 in NASCAR News
The witness who discovered Michael Waltrip’s overturned car initially thought no one survived the accident until the NASCAR driver wiggled out the window.
The witness, an 18-year-old college student at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte, requested anonymity during a phone interview Wednesday with The Associated Press for fear of reprisal from Waltrip’s fan base.
But she said she lives near the two-time Daytona 500 winner in Sherrill’s Ford, and stumbled upon the accident when she was returning home around 2 a.m. Saturday. She saw an overturned Toyota Land Cruiser in a ditch and rushed over to check on the occupants. She didn’t see anyone in the car and no one answered her shouts, so she called 911 for help.
“After I got off the phone I was walking around the car again and somebody stuck their foot out the back driver side of the window,” she said. “That’s when Michael Waltrip got out. He wiggled out the back window. I knew immediately it was him. He just got out the back driver side window and stood up.”
The witness said she asked Waltrip how long he’d been in the car and he told her about 10 minutes.
“He was bleeding from his forehead and had some cuts on his fingers and arms,” she said. “I told him ‘You are really lucky you are alive. I didn’t think anybody was alive in there.’ We sort of talked for a minute or two, and I told him 911 was on the way, and he just turned around and started walking home.
“I didn’t know what to say or what to do. He had a T-shirt and sweat pants and socks on, he might have taken his shoes off in the car, but I wasn’t sure. And he just turned around and started walking home in his socks.”
Waltrip was charged Saturday evening with reckless driving and failing to report an accident, both misdemeanors. He told police he fell asleep the wheel and woke up to find his car overturned in the gravel.
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I hope this experience improves his on track performance in some way. Driving barefoot in North Carolina must not be illegal. I hope he didn’t cross a sidewalk because I know driving on one of those is illegal there.
I guess after awhile you get used to crashing. Doesnt he know youre supposed to wait for the ambulance to ride to the infield care center. Or maybe he thought it was closed at 2AM.
haha. maybe he was waiting on an ambulance. he stayed in the car for 10 minutes! lol. michael is a strange man sometimes.
i know this was a serious incident but the more details that come forward the more comical it becomes.
I kinda find it funny too, Axel.. as long as he’s okay though.. but he just..turned and walked home in his socks? LOL !! If I were the college girl that found him, I would force him to stay put until the ambulence came and then claim I saved his life and he has a debt to owe me..he would have to let me meet Tony
lol
im silly
i think he left because he did not want to talk about the jet fuel in the trunk i
think he just needs to stop driving in the cup an move to the mini stocks for a while
I’m gonna blame it on the fact its a toyota, i mean look at thier on track performance, its about the same.
There’s SOOO many things wrong with this story. They need to get the facts straight on ALL the stations before they start going on air. Also, It’s hard as hell to believe that a man would roll the car.. crash into a telephone pole and climb out and walk away even with minor injuried.. I bet he was drunk and just thinking about getting home and to be before Buffy found out.
Poor Mikey, I think the last few months have taken a toll on his, and now he’s starting to have a total melt down.
Remember this is the in the “boonies” there probably wasn’t a wrecker cruising, or a 5 minute police cruising like in the cities, anyone who has ever lived out like that knows that response times are slower.In ‘91 my husband and I were in an accident where a farmer pulled his tractor out in front of us (at 5:00 a.m.) with no lights on. we hit the rear of his snow scraper blade . we were 10 minutes from the closest town. It took 35 minutes for an ambulance to get there 2 hours for a wrecker!!!! 911 was called 5 min after the accident. people should find out all the facts before speaking.Thankfully he’s physically o.k.
I live in NC not even 2 hours from his home. The issue is that a ” witness” came upon his car before he was even out of it… She recognized him… he was less than a mile from home. The TV reports originally said 6 hours and then 3 by the time the police got to his house. Now let me tell you something about the area… He would have made it home and as soon as hte police ran the tags and founf out who it was they could have been to his house in 10 minutes or less. I’m originally from the “Boonies” of Vermont and if I were as well known as MIcheal Waltrip and my house was less than a mile away from the scene of the crime it wouldn’t have takedn 3-6 hours to get to my house… not even if they were riding a horse.