Page 30 - March 2019 IWMA News Interactive

The Comeback Kid By: Linda Spangler
The night began as any other night at the track, the stands were full, the track lights had never shone brighter, and the fans were yelling for Emily to win. Emily raced her #28 Mini Cup down the straightaway when all of sudden her left front tire was hit by another racer. Her car darted up the track and she start-
ed to spin out.
The force of
the accident
was so intense
it sent her to
the hospital
without any
recollection of
what had hap-
pened.
Unlike
drivers,
accident didn’t
detour Emily’s
desire to race. It
intensified her
commitment to
race in the Cup
series, which
is NASCAR’s
most prestigious level of racing.
This wasn’t Emily’s first time that she came back from something traumatic. She found out at a young age that she had an IBD called Ulcerative Colitis. This disease affects around 1.6 million people across the United States. Ulcerative Colitis disease is a chronic inflammatory condition of the colon and is considered an abnormal response by the body’s immune system. To accommodate her condition she had to modify her race car to include a water bottle so she can stay well hydrated. To counteract the effects of her con- dition, Emily has had to learn how to exercise and eat well and stay free from stress. For Emily her racing is her way of de-stressing.
Not only has Emily taken control of her disease but has used it to help others. She is Kentucky’s own Crohn’s & Colitis Ambassador and uses her racing career as a plat- form to inform and help others with any IBD’s. She has been fighting with the disease for over five years and felt that she could help by informing them how to take charge of their disease. She felt she could help them overcome or reduce the severity of some of the symptoms.
Emily’s love for racing started out at the age of 11 years old when she first saw a Mini Cup race at her home track in Corbin, Kentucky. The young man who was driving
30
the winning Mini Cup was only 7 years old and from that day she knew what she wanted to do. Her stepdad, for her 12th birthday, bought her a Mini Cup car all the way from Mont- gomery, Pennsylvania. Through this act of love this ignited Emily’s love for racing.
Tragedy hit again and two days before Christmas in 2015 Emily’s stepdad’s father passed away. Emily was devastated be- cause they had become really close. Her step grandfather’s one unfulfilled wish was to see her race. Em- ily’s first win was on Octo- ber 29th, 2016 at Newport Tennessee. She
said her car was like a rocket that night, and was the fastest it’s ever been throughout that entire season. She felt like her Step grandfather was there to help her to succeed. “It was almost like he was there driving my car with me.”
To Emily her family is everything. Her strength comes from her family and her fans. Her family consists of her stepfather, mother and her siblings. All of the kids in
most that