Copyright 2003, Roadracing World Publishing, Inc.

Racer Woody Deatherage, who broke his back when he crashed and slid into a bare concrete wall at Road Atlanta last month, hopes to return to AMA Superbike racing at Mid-Ohio July 25-27.

Reached by phone on Friday, June 20, Deatherage said that his doctor had cleared him to start working out in a swimming pool and on a stationary bike, and that he had gotten a new frame and was rebuilding his racebike.

Deatherage said that he hopes to see safety improvements at various tracks hosting AMA Superbike races, including Mid-Ohio.

“We’re thinkin’ about comin’ back, and safety is a big thing,” said Deatherage. “Like at Mid-Ohio, I’d like to see them grind down the edges of the concrete patches, the lips that people are always losing the front end on. And that back section where you wheelie over the hill and they have all those trees back there, I’d like to see them rip all that stuff out and make the sand trap bigger. And take out that bridge abutment.

“Sometimes I try to talk to (AMA Pro Racing’s) Ron Barrick but he always gets so defensive about it. I’d like to be able to sit down with him and maybe some track owners and see what we can do to make things better. I’ll go to tracks, take a ride around the course with them, talk about some things that can be done to make it safer.”

Meanwhile, Deatherage’s friend Michael Sturdevant has made a $100 donation to the Roadracing World Action Fund for dirt track Airfence, stating that he made the donation to “convince Woody to go to Lima” to watch the upcoming AMA dirt track race.

“We have to get Woody out of the house,” said Sturdevant in an e-mail to Roadracingworld.com.

“Leverage” donations to the Action Fund are a great way to convince people to do things.

Total donations to the Roadracing World Action Fund for dirt track have reached $18,697. The Action Fund deployed Airfence soft barriers at the recent IMDA-promoted AMA Springfield Mile as part of an education program demonstrating the safety and economic advantages of using soft barriers at motorcycle races.

Readers who wish to encourage Woody Deatherage to go to Lima, or to comment on his planned return to Mid-Ohio and his hope to open a dialog with AMA Pro Racing and track owners on improving safety, can e-mail him at [email protected].