By NICK SCHWIEN

nschwien@dailynews.net

The car rested on the guardrail near the north end of WaKeeney Speedway as emergency personnel and friends tried to free Greg Thyfault.

The sprint car driver just had been involved in a scary crash during hot laps on the dirt oval, one that would change his life forever.

Thyfault, a diehard 305 sprint car driver in the United Rebel Sprint Series, was life-watched to Wesley Medical Center in Wichita after flipping what some estimated at the time to be as many as seven times, according to URSS founder Rick Salem.

Thyfault was paralyzed from his chest down and suffered a severely broken shoulder following the May 25, 2009, crash, one that ironically would prove to save his life despite the drastic outcome.

He later was flown to Craig Hospital in Denver, a place that specializes in spinal cord injuries.

It was then that he began to wonder about possibly driving a sprint car one more time.

"I said I would love to get back into a car to see what it would be like," Thyfault said.

He got his opportunity Aug. 20 at RPM Speedway in Hays. Thanks to fellow URSS driver Kaden Taylor -- a paraplegic who joined the URSS this season -- and other friends of Thyfault, Taylor offered up his ride for five laps during intermission.

It was a feeling Thyfault never will forget.

"When they started pushing me and then the engine turned over, once it fired up, I thought, 'Here we go,' " the 49-year-old said. "Once on the track, I knew they were going to give me five laps. I didn't want to putt around out there, but I also wasn't used to the hand controls. I didn't want to spin out or hurt Kaden's car."

He didn't do either. As the rest of the URSS drivers gathered near the infield of the frontstretch, Thyfault slowly increased his speed with each lap. And with each lap completed, the large crowd at RPM started to roar that much more, rivaling the sound of the car's engine.

After taking the checkered flag, Thyfault turned the car around and stopped on the frontstretch.

He was greeted with a loud, standing ovation from the crowd and the URSS drivers giving him acknowledgment of his feat.

"On the track, hearing the engine brought feelings back,"  Thyfault said.

"He was all grins and smiles," said his longtime friend, Larry Radcliffe. "He thought he never would have a chance to get back in one."

But all that was possible through an effort by the Radcliffe family, Smokey Fairbank and Taylor.

"Smokey and Kaden had been talking ... "  Thyfault said.

"Early in the season, I spent some time getting to know Kaden and his dad," Fairbank said. "We talked that if he could do the hand controls, it would be neat to get Greg into it. ... We kinda threw it around all summer long. One day, Kaden's dad came up and said he'd let Greg drive the car. ... I said it would be nice for Greg to know he beat this thing."

But a talk with Thyfault's daughter, Betsy, was the hardest.

"For Betsy, the accident was pretty tough on her, and she didn't accept it well," Thyfault said about his 17-year-old daughter who is a senior at Hayden High School in Topeka.

His daughter was with him at a race at 81 Speedway near Wichita nearly a year before his accident at WaKeneey and watched her father roll seven or eight times and eventually walk away.

Thyfault said it was after that wreck that his daughter realized just how safe the cars were and how they were made to protect the driver.

"That deal at WaKeeney, I look at it more as anything can happen," Thyfault said. "If I didn't land on the pipe, I probably would not be paralyzed."

While the nearly fatal accident at WaKeeney altered his life, it perhaps saved his life in the end.

"When I got out to Craig, they found out I had a blood clot in my leg," Thyfault said. "I had one about three years ago and quit racing because of the clot in my leg came from driving truck too long. But it got better. My right leg had been cramping up (before the accident), and I didn't think about it really. If I didn't have the accident, the doctors said the blood clot would have popped loose and where it was at, it would have caused a stroke and killed me instantly. In a couple of weeks to a month, I would have been dead anyway."

Thyfault views his time at the Denver hospital as invaluable in more ways than one.

"It was a blessing to go to Craig Hospital. They don't miss a thing," he said. " ... Without the things they taught me, I'm not sure I'd be able to do it now."

Thyfault moved to Hays and goes to a therapy session five days a week at Fort Hays State University. He's felt signs of movement slowly work their way back down his body.

Two weeks ago, he wasn't even able to suck in his stomach. Now, his lower trunk muscles have started to "fire up."

"Now, I've just started to do it,"  he said.

"I've learned to do everything real slow," he added. "I used to be able to jump in the shower and be out the door in 10 minutes. That just doesn't happen anymore. Now, it's about an hour and a half to do it."

Thyfault started attending races again this season, and Radcliffe even rigged up a special seat on a four-wheeler for him to use to push-start sprint cars.

"Larry has done all types of things to help me," he said. "My daughter, in the beginning, didn't want me to do anything with a race car because it was too much of a reminder. But there's always a chance of something happening in a car. I'm not mad. If I had a chance to do it again, I'd do it all over again."

While he wouldn't change anything in the past, Thyfault is comfortable with Friday night being his final experience in a sprint car.

"I would really, really like to race again. But I talked to my kids, and we know I'm not going to do it," he said, mentioning the safety concerns involved.

Thyfault has nothing but praise for everyone who has helped him out along the way and offered either money or emotional support. He knows he couldn't do it without them.

That's why Friday night was so special, especially with his friends setting it all up.

"What happened Friday night was like closure for me," he said. "The smile on my face was probably the biggest I've had since I came home from the hospital.

"The rest of my life is not the way I probably thought it would be, but I'm going to make the rest of my life the best I can. I'm going to take in the little things more now. Friday night was really, really special."

This time, he didn't mind being helped out of the car. The aid he received this time will be etched in his memory forever, too.

"I remember how I got out of the car the last time," Thyfault said about the accident at WaKeeney. "And this time, this is how I wanted to remember getting out of the car."

* Read about Kaden Taylor's inspirational story at www.rubbinracing.pixelpowerhaus.com