One Hydro Driver Is Out With 4 Broken Toes

One of the hydroplane drivers you won’t see on Lake Washington for Seafair is the U-37's J.W. Myers.

Myers is recovering from a crash that broke 4 of his 5 toes in Detroit. The APBA Gold Cup on July 10 started out like any other race for Myers, driver of the Schumacher Racing U-37.

“I was racing Mike Kelly pretty hard,” Myers said, "Villock had already pretty much checked out on us, it was a race for second and I was gaining some ground on Mike."

But then on the famed rooster tail turn, the narrowest turn in the entire series, things took a nasty turn for the Burien racer. Somehow the skid fin on the boat broke loose.

"With no skid on the boat, which is up on the forward left, I have minimal steering control. I have the rudder, but without anything to turn against the amount of control is extremely limited," Myers said.

His Miss Peters and May boat was headed straight for the pits, it was a driver's worst nightmare.

“I see people everywhere and I am like 'Oh my God, what do I do?'” Myers said, "Had I gone straight, there were people on docks and other racers, other boats preparing for the next heat right smack in front of me."

He managed to avoid slamming into the pits and shot for a seawall instead. He crashed into the wall at just under 100 miles per hour.

"I just remember seeing that wall get really big. We hit the wall and changed direction, and it was all over," Myers said.

Even before the boat stopped, he jumped out.

Myers said he didn't feel anything immediately, but soon found out that he broke four toes.

"I messed it up. We have multiple fractures in all of my metatarsals. My number one, my big toe, was dislocated, near my ankle was displaced. It wasn't broken, but the 2, the 3, the 4 were broken up. Overlake rebuilt it, and it feels great," Myers said.

He said he won't let this crash keep him away from the sport he loves.

"There was a brief time in back of ambulance that I was thinking maybe I should quit doing this but, I figure out, this is what I do," he said.

While he's not racing across the waters of Lake Washington this year, he said he'll be eager to take the controls back from the U-31's rookie replacement driver, John Zimmerman in time for the World Championship Oryx Cup in Qatar in November.