Jeff Purvis
     
E-mail gene@genewasher.com
your favorite Jeff Purvis story, (200 words or less) and we'll publish it at
Purvis stories!
Click here for the "
stories that are coming in!
Stormpayracing.com
Oct
27,2007--Jeff
and Margo Purvis got one of the biggest surprises of the evening at the
annual signature Gala for he American Cancer Associations annual fund
raiser. They were name jointly as the William O. Beach Montgomery County
Citizen of the Year Award. Presented annually since 1992, the award has
honored such singular community servants as Ben Kimbrough, Fred Landiss,
Gene Washer and Charles Hand.
They have been huge volunteeres with the Jaycees, the public schools, the
DARE program, Project Playhouse, Camp Rainbow, The Humane Society and many
other community organizations. In addition they have been one of the driving
forces by raising money for Cancer research.
A stunned Jeff and Margo Purvis came
forward to accept the first ever William O. Beach Award presented to a pair
of recipients.
"We honestly do not deserve it," Jeff
Purvis said. "Everything we do we do because we love the community. I'm
still a little confused — Margo and I were both on the (award) nominating
committee."
Jeff Purvis explained he and Margo
had gone over the nominations of many other deserving people, arguing over
who should take the award for 2007. Margo Purvis said to be named the winner
along with her husband was a shock.
"This is the closest I've come
to crying in a long time," Jeff Purvis said. "I do appreciate the award.
Thank you."
May 13,
2007--Busch and Nextel teams have thrown out the line hoping to lure
Jeff Purvis back to the hard surface. "I don't need to do that again," he
said. "I sure would like to race again, but I know better." Purvis is
spending most of his continuing to build Queen City Metals, What driving he
does in on heavy equipment moving steel and crushed cars around the salvage
business lots.
Feb 15,
2007--Jeff Purvis says he is not entered in any late model dirt races in
March or for the rest of the year. "I don't know where that came from," he
said. "But I'll assure you I'm not racing." Purvis will participate in a
Cancer Charity event in
Loxley, Ala. on March 16-17. People will bid
to ride with him several laps around the track in a two-seat late model car
to raise money for the Cancer Association. Jeff's father has Cancer.
Feb. 9,
2007--After a highway accident six
months ago left him seriously injured, National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame
inductee Jeff Purvis is now back to his day-to-day routine running his scrap
metal business in Clarksville. He is preparing to drive a race car again,
but his attitude is different.
Purvis is recovering from a
broken neck for the second time in four years. The first neck injury
occurred during a NASCAR Busch Grand National event at Nazareth, PA in
2002. This second injury occurred on August 5, 2006 while Purvis, his crew,
and members of his family were traveling to a StormPay.com Dirt Late Model
Series race in Eastaboga, AL.
“It’s one thing to wreck in a
race car when no one is with you, but it’s another thing to wreck when your
family is with you,” Purvis said. “It really makes you think about where
your priorities are in life. It’s like if I wasn’t racing, maybe we
wouldn’t have been in that situation at that time.”
Purvis was by himself when he
had his near-fatal wreck in a race car at Nazareth, PA. It was a wreck
Purvis said he has no recollection of, or the entire weekend around it. It
was a wreck that took him over two years to recover from. The highway wreck
was different. Purvis can recall every detail of what occurred inside the
transporter during the wreck.
“The wreck probably took eight
seconds to happen from start to finish,” Purvis said. “But it seemed like
minutes. Time seemed to slow down, and to totally describe what happened
could take hours.”
Purvis, his wife Margo, his
16-year-old son Clay, his crew chief Matt Angel, Angel’s brother Rocky, and
crew member Ben Britt were riding in the race team’s toterhome, a semi
tractor with living quarters attached, that was pulling the race team’s
trailer loaded with the race car, spare parts, and equipment. They were
traveling southbound on I-65 near Cullman, AL.
“Margo and I were sitting on
the couch, Ben was sitting at the table across from us, Clay was sleeping in
the bunk above the cab of the truck, Matt was driving, and Rocky was to his
right in the passenger seat,” Purvis said. “Ben had just got up to get a
bottle of water out of the refrigerator when I heard the tire blow. I
immediately knew it was a left front because the hauler immediately veered
to the left and into the median strip.”
While it was Jeff Purvis the
racer that immediately knew what the problem was due to his experience and
instinct, in the next split second, all of that changed. The fate of Jeff
Purvis and those around him were now in God’s hands. They were now
passengers of fate.
Fate doesn’t care that you’re
in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame. Fate doesn’t care how many
World 100s you’ve won. Fate doesn’t care how many NASCAR races you’ve won.
Jeff Purvis couldn’t get out of this wreck with a quick jerk of the steering
wheel, or a quick jab of the brakes.
There was only one thing Jeff
Purvis wanted to do, and knew he had to do at this time. Fate had caused
the racer instincts – with all of the fame and success – to leave, and for
the most important instinct Jeff Purvis had to take over. Jeff Purvis’
instincts as a father took over.
“I knew I had to get Clay out
of the bunk over the cab of the truck because if the truck got upside down,
that would not be a good place to be,” Purvis said. “He was asleep when
everything started, and we were all yelling for him to get out of there. I
jumped up, went for the front of the truck, and lifted my arms up to pull
him out.”
Purvis said at that instant,
things got worse, as the truck and trailer hit the side of a crossover
culvert in the median strip.
“When we hit the culvert, the
truck made a sudden stop, and Ben, who was behind me at the refrigerator,
came flying forward,” Purvis said. “When he hit me, I broke my back, but
him hitting me prevented him from going straight through the windshield.
After we hit the culvert, the truck started going up and it was real quiet.”
This is another situation an
experienced race car driver knows. When you’re going up and it gets quiet,
you know you’ve left the ground and you’re airborne.
“I was still trying to get
Clay out of the bunk even though we were airborne, and even though my back
was broken,” Purvis said. “About the time we landed in the northbound lane
of the interstate, we simultaneously hit a northbound car and the
guardrail. That was a big hit, and that was when I broke my neck.”
The thing that Purvis feared,
the truck getting upside down, was beginning to happen, as the hauler got up
on its side after hitting, and going through the guardrail.
“I was still trying to get
Clay, and we were on our side,” Purvis recalled. “I remember looking over
at Margo, who was pinned against the side of the toterhome. She asked me if
it was over, but I knew we were still carrying a lot of speed. I told her
no, and it was about then that we started hitting trees.”
The big rig had hit a culvert,
another vehicle, and a steel guard rail, but was still moving. Purvis said
the trees were no match for the rig.
“The trees stopped the rig
pretty quickly, and the last movement I remember was when the truck rolled
back down on its wheels because that’s when I knew I was hurt,” Purvis
said. “When the track landed on its wheels, Clay rolled out of the bunk on
his own. It was about then the rig caught fire.”
Purvis said Matt Angel began
helping everyone out of the rig in quick order. Purvis was the most
seriously injured person in the wreck with a broken neck, broken back, and a
bad cut on his head. With the truck on fire, there was no time to strap
Purvis to a backboard to immobilize his body to protect his injuries.
“There were trees and branches
everywhere inside the toterhome, and it looked like a tornado went through
there,” Purvis said. “The pain I felt when I jumped from the truck to the
ground was pretty intense. Someone had stopped with a travel trailer, and
they got me in there where I could lay down until the medics got there.”
All of the occupants in the
rig escaped with their lives, but the rig, and all of its contents,
including the race car and the equipment, were totally destroyed and burned
to the ground.
It’s been six months since
that fateful day, and Purvis said Margo, Clay, Matt, Rocky, and Ben have all
recovered from their injuries. As for himself, Purvis said he feels the
after effects everyday, but he’s O.K. with that.
“I’m doing pretty good, but
I’m sore everyday,” Purvis said. “I’m just glad to feel it because it could
have been a lot worse. I’m still here, I go to work everyday, and I’m very
thankful that everyone else is O.K.”
Purvis has lots of fans, and
the number one question they ask is whether or not Purvis will race again.
Purvis said this is also a question he has asked himself during the last six
months. In the last six months, Purvis has had a lot of time to reflect on
his life, his family, and his career.
“When you go through what I
went through with my family riding down that interstate, racing doesn’t seem
that important,” Purvis said. “After it happened, I blamed myself for
putting them in that position, and if I wasn’t going to a race, we might not
have been there. I’m still able to come to the scrap yard, and run it.
That’s what puts food on our table, and clothes on our back.”
Even though Purvis has put
more emphasis on his business, there is still a big place in his heart for
racing, not just in his heart, but now Clay has been bitten by the racing
bug.
“I still love racing, and I
still want to drive a race car again,” Purvis said. “But I think my
priorities about racing are changing because Clay now wants to race,” Purvis
said. “I’ve told him I’ll help him as long as he realizes his priorities
are here working with me at the scrap yard. This will be his someday, and I
want him to take an interest in it. As long as he comes here to work, I’ll
help him with his racing.”
Purvis said he is going to
prepare a crate late model for Clay to drive in StormPay.com Weekly Racing
Series competition during the 2007 season.
As for himself driving a race
car, Purvis said he will climb behind the wheel of a dirt late model again
in March, and said he is going to take someone with him.
“The StormPay.com Dirt Late
Model Series Director Mike Vaughn asked me to drive their two-seat dirt late
model at Deep South Speedway in Loxley, AL on March 16-17 to benefit the
American Cancer Society,” Purvis said. “These are two things I really
believe in, and I think it’s pretty neat that when I drive a race car again,
I can take somebody with me to share the experience.”
Purvis was one of Vaughn’s
biggest supporters when the latter began the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model
Series in 2005 when it was called Crate Racin’ USA. Purvis finished sixth
in the 2005 point standings, and was seventh in the 2006 point standings at
the time of his accident.
“The StormPay.com Dirt Late
Model Series and affordable crate late model engines have come along just at
the right time,” Purvis said. “Super Late Model racing was becoming too
expensive for the average weekly racer, and that’s where drivers come from
to race nationally. I started out as a weekly racer, and if I had to start
racing now, there is no way I could do it with the engines as expensive as
they are. I believe in the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series and what it
is trying to accomplish in the industry.”
There is also a very special
place in the heart of Jeff Purvis for the American Cancer Society, and its
cause.
“My wife Margo is Vice
President of the American Cancer Society Chapter here in Clarksville, and
we’re both very active in this cause,” Purvis said. “All of the money they
collect goes to research in trying to find a cure for cancer. I want to
cure it. I’m no doctor or scientist, so they’ll have to find it, but if I
can play a role to help them, I’m more than happy to do it. I’m thankful
that I have the ability to do something that can raise money.”
Fans will be able to bid for
rides with Purvis in the special two-seat dirt late model at Deep South
Speedway in Loxley, AL on March 16-17.
“Although we hated that Jeff,
his family and his crew were involved in the highway accident, we’re happy
that everyone is O.K., and that Jeff is ready to get back behind the wheel
of a race car again,” Vaughn said. “We have always been appreciative of
Jeff’s support of the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series, and we’re happy
Jeff has decided to join us in an effort to raise money for the American
Cancer Society. We’re also looking forward to working with Jeff in
launching Clay’s racing career this season.”
While the after effects of
what happened to Jeff Purvis on August 5, 2006 are still felt by him when he
gets up in the morning, it has also given him reason to be thankful for his
family, his friends, and his fans.
“I hurt when I get up in the
morning, but it hurts so good because I’m still alive to feel it,” Purvis
said. “I thank God that I’m still alive, Margo and Clay are still alive,
and Matt, Rocky and Ben are still alive. I am also very thankful for all of
the friends and race fans that checked on me, and have asked about me over
the past six months. There have been thousands of visits, phone calls,
E-mails, cards, letters, and Internet responses from all over the world. We
are so thankful for each and every one of them.”
As far as racing goes, even
though he will drive again in the two-seater charity runs and help his son
Clay launch his career, the question still remains whether or not Jeff
Purvis will race competitively again. According to Purvis, it’s not as much
of a priority as it used to be.
“After what me and my family
went through in the wreck, I’m so thankful that we’re still alive, and I can
come to work and provide for them,” Purvis said. “I have a good and
successful business that can provide for my family and give Clay a good
future, and that’s the main priority. I still love racing, but after the
wreck it’s just not as important as it used to be. I’d like to race
competitively again because I wasn’t hurt on the track this time, and if the
time and place is right, I might do it again, but right now, there is no
plan to do so.”
Jeff Purvis is still alive
thanks to God’s grace. He is still alive to provide for his family, and to
contribute in the fight to cure cancer. In everything that has happened to
Jeff Purvis since 2002, should he ever be called by God to become an
Evangelist, what a testimony God has given him to share with others.
Jan 4, 07--Jeff Purvis said he would not be racing at the Ice
Bowl in the Crate Late Model series set for Jan 6, 7 in Talladega, Ala.
"Don't
count anything out," he said of his future racing career, "but right night I
don't even have a pair of racing shoes. I just don't have any plans other than
trying to collect scrap metal."
Purvis is part owner of Queen City Metals, a Clarksville, Tenn. business
that collects scrap metal from companies across Middle Tennessee and Southern
Kentucky.
Purvis hasn't raced since the accident in which
his race car hauler was involved late last Summer.
Oct. 22, 06--Jeff Purvis is not fully recovered, but he is much
better. "I'm feeling a lot better he said from work Friday. There are still some
aches and pains, but part of that is the fact that I'm getting older. I'm not
100 percent back, but I'm 85." Purvis is working every day, doing some traveling
and working on some charity events. He is also developing a new strategy for his
company which will be announced Nov. 1. As far as racing, he hints he might be
back on dirt next year. He still has a car in his race shop. One think is for
sure, he's homesick for the track. "I really miss it," he said. " Every weekend
I miss it a lot."
Sept. 7, 06--Jeff
Purvis is home in Clarksville, Tenn. And it is up in the air whether he
will race again. "Maybe I'll retire like you," he
said.. But you know racers. Once they get well, they may change
their minds. He is still sore but in good spirits,
cracking jokes and talking about how lucky he and his family are. "The
worst think," he says, "I the pain between my shoulder blades. My sternum is
about well. But It feels like someone hit me in the back with a sledge hammer."
Of the accident, he said:
"Every time I thought that truck had stopped,
it hit
something and there was a big thump."
He, his wife Margo, his crew chief Matt Angel, other crew members of his crew and son Clay
were in an
accident near Cullman, Ala. The crash occurred when Purvis' race car hauler
blew a left front tire, crossed the
median and collided with a northbound Vehicle at milepost 295.
They were on their way to a Stormpay.com regional race. Jeff visited the same doctor who
attended him after his near fatal racing accident in
Pennsylvania several years ago.
They were on the way to Talladega where he was to have raced Aug. 5.
July 20, 06--Jeff Purvis will competed at
the Clarksville Stormpay.com Speedway Wednesday night.
July 2--Jeff Purvis finished 4th in the
StormPay.com Series at Thunderhill Raceway in Lawrenceburg, Tenn. He qualified
14th. That moved Purivs, who has had three straight top five finishes, to 8th in
the points for the series. Qualifying for the 75-lap, $7,500 event in
Clarksville begins July 3. The feature will be July 4th.
July 1--Jeff Purvis finished 5th after
qualifying 7th at Duck River in Wheel, Tenn. "We actually ran pretty well," he
said. " But we broke everything that could be broken." The No. 15 Storm Pay.com
car lost a right rear brake caliber during the heat races. " We got it put back
together just before the feature," Purvis said. " We ran the features on two
brakes. The series moved to Thunderhill Raceway in Lawrenceburg, Tenn.
July 2 and then to Clarksville StormPay.Com Speedway Monday and Tuesday for a
75-lap, $7,500 event.
May 27-- Jeff Purvis won the
Robert Martin Attorney At Law Pole Award and went on to finish fourth in the
StormPay.com/NeSmith Chevrolet Dirt Late Model Series Saturday night in
Clarksville. The 50-lap $3,000-to-win race was a Salute To The Armed Forces.
Purvis set fast time among the 30 entrants with a lap around the ¼-mile clay
oval in 13.500 seconds, and then when on to win the CPR/StormPay.com Lightning
Quick 6 Dash to earn the pole position. The next event for the StormPay.com Dirt
Late Model Series National Tour will be a two-day, $5,000-to-win show at
Swinging Bridge Raceway in Jackson, MS on June 9-10.
May 26th--Clarksville's Jeff Purvis finished 5th at the StormPay.com
Clarksville Speedway Wednesday night, 6th at Duck River in Shelbyville Thursday
and wil compete at the ThunderHill Speedway in Lawrenceburg, Tn, Friday night
before returning to his home Clarksville track for a Saturday night event.
April 28-- StormPay.com
Weekly Racing Series track I-77 Speedway in Chester, SC is preparing for two big
shows with the sanctioning body, one for the Weekly Racing Series, and the other
for the StormPay.com Dirt Late Model Series National Tour. Clarksville's Jeff
Purvis will be in that event.
April 16th--CAMDEN, TN - National Dirt Late Model Hall of
Fame inductee Jeff Purvis of Clarksville, TN took a break from his StormPay.com
Dirt Late Model Series National Tour schedule to win the season opener for the
StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series Division at Camden Speedway on Friday night.
Purvis led all 20 laps to win the $700 top prize in his StormPay.com
Warrior/604.
Camden Speedway is the latest weekly dirt track to sign up for the StormPay.com
Weekly Racing Series in which Crate Late Model competitors will compete not only
for track points, but also regional and national points against drivers at other
StormPay.com Weekly Racing Series tracks.
Purvis then returned to his home Track at the
Stormpay.com Clarksville Speedway and finished third.
.
Jeff Purvis, who has return to dirt track
racing, left plenty of history for his fans when he retired form NASCAR
and Busch Racing. After an accident which almost killed him , Purvis got back
behind the wheel two years later to pilot to
Phoenix Racing’s No. 1 Yellow Transportation Dodge
. There were his
first competitive laps since he was injured at Nazareth Speedway. He said the most difficult thing was “having the eyes of the racing world focus
on me. Everyone was looking at me and wondering, ‘when is he going to screw
up’.”
Purvis says racing is like having learned to
ride a bicycle. Once you do it you can do it again. And Purvis didn’t
screw up! He started the
Goulds Pumps ITT
Industries 200 in the 26th position and brought the Yellow Transportation Dodge
home in the 17th position, the last car on the lead lap--a very solid
performance.
Purvis' chance
through the long-time friendship of James Finch and the Phoenix Racing team came
after years of racing against Finch and for him on dirt.
“Jeff is a big part of
Phoenix Racing history," said Finch. "We won a lot of dirt track races (more
than 350) together. And it was Jeff who gave me my first wins in ARCA
(Automobile Racing Club of America) and the Busch Series."
It’s was a long hard
journey back for Purvis, who became emotional in a post race interview as he
thanked his family and friends for all of their support over the last two
years. 
On lap 166 at Nazareth,
Purvis’s car “let go” in turn one in its own oil after it blew an engine and the
car, owned by Brewco Motorsports, hit the outside wall hard and came to rest in
the middle of the track. There it was hit again by Greg Biffle who lost control
of his Roush Racing Ford when his tires ran through the oil left behind from
Purvis’ engine. Both drivers were knocked unconscious and transported to local
hospitals, but Biffle was shortly released. Purvis however, suffered a closed
head injury, broken vertebrae in his neck and a broken left leg. He wore a halo
for several months as part of his recovery.
 Purvis's
Timberwolf No. 37 will be a part of part of the Beasley Sports Gallery, at
Clarksville's Custom House Museum. The exhibit
will also contain many artifacts of famous Clarksville athletes including
three-time gold medal Olympian Wilma
Rudolph, Professional golfer Mason Rudolph and Austin Peay basketball player Fly Williams. The
Purvis exhibit will be by far the largest and will feature the Clarence Brewer
owned car. It was one of the cars that Purvis drove in his final year on the
Busch circuit. The exhibit will also include a lot of items from different
points in Purvis dirt, NASCAR and Busch Series career.
(click
for Busch history )
He
posted more than 350 wins on dirt which included three national championships
before he moved to the Busch and Winston Club series.
"I really don't remember my first win," he said. "I know it must have been
at the Clarksville Speedway. The way we came up with the 350 wins on dirt was
that Clay and Thomas (his two sons) counted trophies one day. We found 267 first
place trophies. Then we figured about how any early races I competed in and then
averaged out the wins each year to get to 350. Early on, they didn't give
trophies, and then I got so many small ones that we had to throw some away to
make way for the 267 that I kept at that time."
Dayton and Talladega are two of Purvis' favorite tracks. He liked the high
speeds and the feel of the car as it cut through the wind on the high banks at
speeds near 200 miles per hour. In the 90s, driving for James Finch, the
headlines in the Daytona paper cried out, Jeff Purvis, fastest man in Daytona.
He sat on the pole that year in his Busch Car and qualified in the top 10 in his
Winston Cup car. During practices he had posted the fastest times in both
divisions."
"Jeff was a big part of
Phoenix Racing history," Finch says. "We won the World 300 three times, and with
a little confidence, we switched to short track asphalt racing. We’re still the
only three-time winner of the All-American 400 in Nashville. We’ve also won the
Superspeedway Championship in the ARCA Series (Automobile Racing Club of
America) three times. Jeff and I were together for about 12 years until we
finally decided to go our separate ways in the Busch series."
Purvis won three ARCA
Superspeedway races in 1993 along with three poles and came back in 1994 to
become the first ARCA driver to win three Superspeedway races in consecutive
seasons.
In the 80s Finch had a car in
a national championship dirt race when he noticed the talent of a kid named Jeff
Purvis, who finished second. Finch recruited Purvis. Together, they went on to
win about 350 dirt track races before hitting the asphalt.
 While
Purvis moved on to race for Joe Gibbs Racing in the #18 Pontiac, Finch and
Purvis still
continue their relationship. In 2001, Purvis ran both Talladega (Ala.) and
Daytona (Fla.) Winston Cup races in a Phoenix Racing car.
Photo
left is of Jeff's youngest son, Clay (left), and Gene Washer's youngest son,
Ben, in front of Washer's race trailer. To
the right they cheer with Titans flame hats.
"In 1996, we went down to
Daytona with five employees and sat on the pole for the ARCA race, won the ARCA
race, sat on the pole for the Busch race, qualified for the Daytona 500 and were
running 12th on the lead lap," Finch said. It was his proudest moment in racing.
"You just can’t do that anymore," he said. Purvis was in the Busch and Cup car.
Purvis remembers it well too.
In fact the Busch car he put on the pole is now painted black and dons the No. 3
for the Monster Racing School at the Nashville, Tenn. Speedway.
Jeff's
NASCAR Page
|
|
