Mark Skaife reunited with boy he saved from wreck 29 years ago
Mark Skaife may have won six Bathurst 1000 crowns but the most important race of his career was run on a highway at midnight almost 30 years ago. James Phelps tells the remarkable story.
NSW
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He pulled his son from the wreck.
“I’ll get you help, it will be OK. Daddy has you,” he said.
Then he saw the blood.
“I got you,’’ he said. “Squeeze my hand. You will be all right. I promise.’’
The father did not dare examine the full extent of his three-year-old son’s injuries after rolling his car and crashing into a tree at an estimated 110km/h on the highway in Victoria, about 20km from the nearest town with a hospital.
He just knew he needed a saviour.
“Help,’’ he screamed into the dark. “Please.’’
The highway was deserted, it was nearly midnight, in a ditch on the side of the road about 21km from the nearest town with a hospital.
“Please,’’ he shouted again.
And then he saw the headlights.
“My prayers were answered when a car pulled up,’’ said Shane O’Connor, the father talking publicly about the accident for the very first time. “A bloke got out and started running towards us.’’
That bloke just happened to be Mark Skaife, a Supercar legend and soon to be a lifesaver.
In the first full season of what would become one of the great V8 careers, Skaife was travelling to the Winton round of the Australian Touring Car championship when he spotted Shane and his injured son Brad.
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“Turns out Skaife and some of his team were travelling behind us,’’ Shane said.
“They saw the car in the embankment. The smoke and fire. Then they saw me. They came racing to help.’’
Skaife helped the father and son into his car. He then raced the most important 21km of his career.
“They (the doctors) told me he would have been dead if he arrived a minute later,’’ Shane said.
“He wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Mark Skaife.’’
Shane sat in the back of Skaife’s hire car nursing his son as the up-and-coming V8 star drove the injured pair to hospital.
“Bradley was in a real bad way,’’ Shane said
“The middle pillar of the car had crushed his head. Mark just told us it would be OK and the he would get us to help.’’
And he did.
“Mark and the boys got us there like lightning,’’ Shane said.
“Quicker than an ambulance would have. They then flown him to the children’s hospital. He (Brad) actually died on the operating table three times. If it wasn’t for Mark, getting him that care and getting him there that quick, they wouldn’t have been able to bring him back.’’
Brad does not remember a thing about the crash. Or about the 20 surgeries that followed. Or that the young race car driver visited him in the hospital a month later and gave him a signed “get well’’ poster.
“But I know it was Skaifey who saved me,’’ Brad said.
“Dad has told me all the stories.’’
Brad had been waiting 29 years to thank the race car legend for saving his life.
Now 32, he finally got the chance on Friday when he was reunited with his roadside saviour for the first time since the hospital visit in 1990.
“I just wanted to say thank you,’’ Brad said.
“And getting to finally meet him after all these years is the greatest moment of my life.’’
A reluctant hero, Skaife has kept the rescue a closely-guarded secret.
Details of his incredible act only emerged earlier this week when Shane contacted Supercars to ask if his son could personally thank the now Fox Sports Supercars commentator.
“Brad decided he needed to finally thank him,’’ Shane said.
“He has only become confident enough recently to confront people. He was paralysed from the neck down after the crash and couldn’t move his legs or arms until he was six. The doctors said he would never walk, talk or have a normal life.
“He has been in and out of hospital his whole life and it is only recently that he is comfortable in public.
“He went back and thanked all the doctors that helped him. He needed to thank Skaifey too.’’
The Sunday Telegraph was on hand when Brad finally got to meet his lifesaver.
“It is because of you that I am here,’’ Brad told Skaife after the pair shook hands.
“You saved me.’’
Skaife stood trackside at Sandown with the father and son for a heartwarming reunion that lasted almost 30 minutes.
“We just did something that anyone would have done,’’ Skaife said.
“I was with my team when we came across a crash and did whatever we did to help. And it was great to finally met Brad all these years later and see that he is doing well.
“He is the hero in this story. He has shown remarkable courage to get himself where he is today.’’
Shane said the meeting with Skaife marked the completion of a 29-year recovery for his son.
“He is now ready to get on with his life,’’ Shane said.
“He has a part-time job, is catching public transport and is giving it a go. I am just so glad he finally got to meet the guy that saved him.’’