Australian racer and motorsport entrepreneur Tony Quinn has officially retired from competitive motorsports after ‘seeing’ the Grim Reaper at the end of his Townsville hospital bed.
Quinn spent six days in the North Queensland hospital after a horrific crash in the Porsche Payton Dixon Carrera Cup race at the NTI Townsville 500 event on July 9 which resulted in 12 broken ribs, a fractured pelvis, back fractures, two busted ankles and feet, a punctured lung and severe external and internal bruising.
He has a recovery period of up to 12 months ahead of him and is currently wheelchair-bound at his Gold Coast home where he spoke to Speedcafe.com this week.
The Grim Reaper is described as the spirit of Death, known for appearing soon after someone has died to deliver their soul to the afterlife and almost always depicted in a dark, hooded cloak holding a scythe.
“I swear the grim Reaper was at the bottom of the bed, I f***ing swear it,” Quinn told Speedcafe.com.
“I managed to kick him, or I managed to fight that off and ever since, from that moment, I was very scared.
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“But for sure, the c**t was there right near the glass doors and I f***ing wasn’t going with him, I knew that wasn’t a good trip.”
While some hallucinating effects of the morphine might have been to blame for the appearance of the Grim Reaper, Quinn was grateful to hospital staff that were administering it.
“I had f***ing liquid in the lungs and a punctured lung and all that stuff, and if I wasn’t in ICU, I was gone,” said Quinn.
“You know, people fall off the back of a truck, puncture a lung and they’re dead.
“I guess my memory of being in the trauma ward is, every hour, the nurses asking you what your name is and your date of birth.
“After a period of time, that gets really annoying, but it’s better than the alternative.
“And of course, the other thing that a decent human has to deal with, is you’ve spent 60 years of your life avoiding shitting your pants, and of course, everybody knows my f***ing thing on toilets, but, you know, that’s what you do, you have to do it, you shit your pants, and it’s so undignified, but it’s necessary, you can’t do anything else.”
Quinn has a significant presence in motorsport and is the largest shareholder of Triple Eight Race Engineering.
He also owns various motorsport venues, including Queensland Raceway, Hampton Downs, and Highlands Motorsport Park
Originally from Scotland, Quinn remains the owner of Aussie Racing Cars and formerly owned Australian GT.
Quinn, 65, has had several weeks to reflect on his current situation and what lies ahead, in and out of a race car.
“It feels like I’ve hung up one boot. I still want to do stuff, but certainly not in a competitive fashion,” said Quinn.
“I want to be there and I want to contribute, and I want to compete, but I don’t want a medal or trophy or anything.
“I just want to do stuff and maybe, you know, I’ve been talking to Harry [right-hand man and mechanic, Harry Forrester] at length, and maybe we do more things like the Spa Classic race or the Donegal rally, or stuff that’s overseas, maybe the Goodwood Festival.
“It might be a bit more of that, because my racing ambitions have been passed over to my grandson, Ryder, who’s doing quite well.”
Quinn wrote an autobiography seven years ago and one of his initial thoughts in his early days of recovery was that he would use his recuperation time to write another book.
“I thought, this will be a good time to regroup, rethink what I’m doing, what I’m trying to say, what my philosophies are, what my thoughts are on family life as you get older is, and split families, and all of those challenges that are presented to you,” said Quinn.
“I thought this would be a good time to write down some thoughts – just my own thoughts – but the truth is that I tried, and what I ended up doing was just doodling on the paper because my brain wasn’t able to focus on that, or even give any sensible commentary to it, because I think it was consumed by just the repair process.
“So, I think you’re just like an ornament on the shelf for a while.”
One thing that Quinn is determined to achieve is getting a message out to drivers of all ages about the importance of tightening their race belts before hitting the road or track.
After an evaluation of the crash, Quinn is convinced that if his belts had been tighter then his injuries would not have been as severe.
He wants to give the campaign a title of “Buckle Up Boys (and Girls)” – “If you think it’s tight, tighten it again.”
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