Tulsa Shootout flagman hit by race car (Video)

Watch the video of the scary incident in Tulsa, Oklahoma

The Tulsa Shootout is currently underway in Oklahoma. The week-long indoor dirt race hosts Outlaw karts on the bullring oval just ahead of the famed Chili Bowl Nationals.

Watch the Tulsa flagman video below.

In most racing events, the flagman sits in a metal box above the catchfence. However, at select events or tracks across the country they still do it the old school way, feet on the ground.

Terry Mattox is the long-time flagman for the Tulsa Shootout as well as the Chili Bowl Nationals. In the feature events, he can be seen running onto the racing surface with the checkered flag, adding to the dramatics.

In this case, Mattox was well off the racing surface during the Thursday morning show. He stood just a few feet forward of an inside track barrier. With flags in the air, trouble was on the way.

The inside lane was a bit slimy. Off turn four, a car found that slime and got a bit sideways. The car drove over the inside berm, both front wheels went off the ground in the off-track excursion.

The car was now pointed directly at the flagman. Mattox attempted to jump backwards, out of the path of the car. However, he too lost his footing in the slime on the track.

The car drove right into his leg. Mattox was taken to the hospital.

The Tulsa Shootout stated shortly after, “Our flagman, Terry Mattox, is ok and getting checked out. Thank you to our safety crew for their quick response. True story, his biggest concern was that he may have gotten his checkered flag dirty.”

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Terry Mattox comments

Just a few hours later, Mattox returned to the track with a bandage on his leg. He had a bit of a limp but no broken bones.

“I feel like I went to build-a-bear in there, they had me all sewn up,” Mattox told FloRacing when he returned.

It’s the first time Mattox ever got stitches.

“At first I thought that was my first broken bone in 27 years. I guess I’ll take stitches.”

“I still feel safer being on the ground flagging than I would in a flagstand, up here.”

Mattox is back to work in Tulsa. On Thursday afternoon, he was scoring the events.

Tulsa Shootout flagman struck by race car

https://twitter.com/After_The_Flag/status/1608916924167262210
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