Byron Fichter is known to local motorsports fans for his work as the track photographer at the Estevan Motor Speedway through his business, Byron Fichter Fotography.
But after the Aug. 4 program at the tracki, he’ll be known for something else: the driver whose rollover during the hobby stock feature race was captured on a GoPro camera.
The incident happened late in the hobby stock feature when Fichter was involved in a collision with Karen Parachoniak.
“It happened really fast where I was trying to avoid hitting … a different car, and I got a little loose,” said Fichter. “And then once I got loose, someone else clipped the front side of my car, the wheels dug in and it flipped it over.”
It was the first time he has tried racing with a GoPro attached to his helmet, and according to Fichter, it will likely be the last, as he now views the practice as “unlucky.”
The video, which is 25 seconds in length, was posted to the Estevan Motor Speedway and the Byron Fichter Fotography Facebook pages, and has attracted nearly 5,000 views so far. He’s not surprised with the reaction.
“Videos and photos revolving around crashes seem to have pretty good reach,” said Fichter.
After the crash, the track officials waved a red flag and stopped the feature with a few laps remaining so emergency crews could check on Fichter and Parachoniak. Amazingly, neither driver was seriously injured. Fichter suffered only a couple bruises.
Once the accident happened, Fichter had to process that his car had flipped.
“It felt like a bad carnival ride, I guess,” he said. “The cars are extremely well built. They’re built to take the abuse. I think my rollover was fairly tame as far as rollovers go.”
He also paid tribute to the emergency medical services for their response to the accident. Fichter dropped his window net to indicate that he was okay, and he quickly pointed to Parachoniak’s car to ask them to check on her.
The car sustained some damage, he said, but Fichter expects it will be ready to go for the next program at the speedway on Aug. 19.
“The damage is a lot more minor than we thought, but obviously there was still some damage,” said Fichter.
Fichter hasn’t been focused on photography this year, because he wants to dedicate his attention to racing a hobby stock for the full schedule.
“It’s going all right,” said Fichter. “It’s a really hard sport to pick up. I know when you sit there and watch, you think it’s pretty easy, but when you get in there and you’re doing 70 miles per hour, and the track has the grade on it that it does, it’s a real challenge.
“I have a lot of respect for the people that are really good at it, because it’s a lot harder than most people think it is.”
It has been an enjoyable experience this year, and he’s thankful for the people who have helped him maintain the car so he can pursue this passion of racing.
