Bruce and Teresa Rogers, operators of Grandview Speedway, continue their recovery from injuries sustained in a vehicular accident last week in Daytona Beach, Fla.
The Rogerses are in the Halifax Medical Center (France building) in Daytona Beach following the Jan. 25 accident. Ernie Saxton, Grandview’s public relations director and a longtime acquaintance of the Rogers family, is in the Daytona Beach area and in continuing contact with the couple.
“Theresa is undergoing rehab for cracked ribs, and she will recover,” Saxton reported Thursday. “Bruce is in the ICU (intensive care unit) with a touch of pneumonia. He had to undergo a tracheotomy and is looking at a prolonged road to recovery.”
The Rogerses were travelling on Nova Road in Daytona Beach around 7:30 p.m. on the 25th. As they were turning off Nova onto a side street, their vehicle was hit by another car.
“Theresa will have a shorter period of say,” Saxton noted. “For Bruce, it will be quite some time.”
Saxton praised the assistance NASCAR, the sanctioning body for Grandview Speedway and its dirt-track racing divisions, offered the Rogers family in the wake of the accident.
“NASCAR was helpful to the Rogers family, since Grandview is a NASCAR track,” he said.
At the same time, Saxton stressed the Rogers’ situation will not impact plans for Grandview’s 2016 season. He noted the Rogers’ offspring, son Kenny and daughter Tina, have been actively overseeing the track’s business.
“Tina and Kenny have been instrumental in running the speedway. Bruce and Theresa have been there,” he said. “This will not have an impact on the track or its schedule. It’s looking to have one of the busiest schedules ever.”
Saxton noted Kenny and Tina flew in to Daytona the Wednesday following the accident.
“Like any other family, they’re concerned about Bruce and Theresa being back in good health,” he said.
Grandview Speedway opened up for the first time in 1963. Property owner Forrest Rogers, Bruce’s father, was first approached by the Pottstown All-Stars, a local racing club, with the thought of building a quarter-mile asphalt track on his 103-acre property in Berks County, near Bechtelsville.
While, that deal never materialized, Forrest Rogers moved forward and began building his track in the fall of 1962. He worked hard at building the dirt track, but a sudden heart attack ended his life just four years after Grandview’s opening. Bruce Rogers then assumed the role of developing the future of the fledgling facility.
Cards and notes to wish the Rogerses well during their recovery can be sent to their Florida home. The address is 173 Bear Foot Trail, Ormond Beach, Fla. 32174.
