Shock
Specialist Rededicated Himself to Racing After Skydiving
Accident
 Valvoline shock specialist Mike Cluka’s rededication to
racing began in 1992 at
3,500 feet off the ground.
He and three buddies seeking a thrill or two on a sunny
Saturday afternoon in
Wisconsin piled into a car and drove to an airport. Two
weeks earlier the friends completed an 8-hour orientation
course before their first skydiving jump and this was the
much-anticipated second jump.
After takeoff, Cluka climbed out of the airplane cabin and
onto the wing. With
the wind in his face and his buddies shouting encouragement
he let go of the
wing feeling the adrenalin surge.
Seconds later the parachute deployed, but didn’t open. Then
it collapsed about
half way.
"There was panic. I was scared to death. I was trying to
think what all they taught me in the class," recalled the
now 35-year-old Cluka. "I pulled my cutaway strap and the
main chute is supposed to leave you at that point but it
didn’t. I couldn’t do anything so I just rode it out."
It was a long way to the ground.
The dangling parachute slowed the decent some, but the
ground was growing
closer and closer. As he neared earth saw he was falling
toward a tree near the
fairway of a golf course.
Cluka crashed into one of the oak tree’s four-inch branches
which slowed him
just before he slammed into the ground. He laid motionless
on his right side in
the rough of the golf course’s fourth hole.
"I didn’t see a white light or anything like that," he said.
"I remember
everything that happened. I hit the tree and it did kind of
a whipping motion
on me as I slammed into the ground. It didn’t knock me out.
I didn’t have
another bruise on my body except that it broke my neck."
Cluka remembers two people from the skydiving school running
to his aid then a sheriff. He also remembers blacking out a
few minutes after the landing and
then waking to see his now purple hand.
His friend paced back and forth nearby convinced he had just
watched his buddy die. But miracles do happen. Cluka was in
the hospital only a week, walking within two weeks and in a
halo for only three months.
The recovery gave him time think about what he wanted to do
in life. And it
changed him more than he can describe.
"I was a lot more happier in life after that," said Cluka.
"It made me focus. I
was kind of lost in what I wanted to do and it made me want
to get back into
racing."
Up until the time of the jump it appeared Cluka would never
return to racing
after walking away.
Cluka and his older brother Scott grew up in the sport under
the tutelage of
their father Ed Cluka who was a full-time mechanic in
various series before
becoming the national sales director and head engineer of
Aero Racing Wheels.
The brothers spent time at racetracks all over the Midwest
and Mike spent his
late teens working in the American Speed Association for a
variety of drivers.
But in his early twenties he had had enough and wanted to
try life outside
racing. He moved to Chicago but several jobs didn’t seem to
fill the void.
The skydiving accident and subsequent healing combined with
trips to North
Carolina to visit his brother who was working on Dale
Earnhardt’s crew at the
time seemed to rekindle the racing bug.
"I figured it was time to do something with my life," Cluka
said. "This was
kind of my second chance."
Cluka returned to racing changing tires for Bobby Labonte’s
Busch car before
taking a job with Junie Donlavy in late 1994. He moved to
MB2 Motorsports in
1996 before joining Earnhardt’s team in 1999. Cluka joined
the Valvoline team
in 2002.
"I’ve had two goals since I came back to the sport. The
first was to work and
win with Dale Earnhardt and I was able to do that. Now, I
want a Winston Cup
championship and I won’t be satisfied until I do," he said.
"My brother won a
championship in Nascar and that’s what I want now."
It isn’t often that a race driver can marvel at a
crewmember’s ability to
overcome, let alone survive, an accident like the one Cluka
survived. The drama
isn’t lost on Johnny Benson.
"Mike’s story gives you a perspective on life," said Benson.
"I guess when you
go through something like that it changes your focus and
your priorities. I don
’t think anyone ever wants to have happen to them what
happened to Mike, but if it does I guess you have to say
he’s used it as a positive."
Cluka works on shocks during the week at the shop and race
weekends at the race track.
"This is all I ever wanted to do since I got back in the
sport," he said. "Being in racing is a thrill I can’t
describe and a lot safer than skydiving."
Off the track Cluka spends as much time as he can with wife
Sharon and
15-year-old stepson Brandon. The family spends quiet time on
a Kannapolis, N.C.
pond with a hook and line fishing until the sun goes down.
Cluka follows the Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers as
close as anyone in the Nascar Winston Cup garage area. And,
he still talks about his skydiving accident.
He’s quick with a response when asked if he’ll ever jump
again.
"I haven’t been back skydiving and I don’t know if I will.
Maybe if I did a dual jump where I wasn’t in control. I
don’t know," he said. "Right now I’d rather concentrate on
winning races. That sounds like a whole lot more fun."
Benson Record at Lowes Motor Speedway
Date S` F
10/07/2001 11 36
05/27/2001 8 20
10/08/2000 9 8
05/28/2000 39 16
10/11/1999 39 16
05/30/1999 42 18
10/04/1998 37 28
05/24/1998 39 9
10/05/1997 15 10
05/25/1997 40 15
10/06/1996 17 14
05/26/1996 11 38
THE RACE: UAW-GM Quality 500
Winston Cup Race #31 of 36 for the 2002 Winston Cup season
Race: Sunday, October 13, 2002 in Concord, NC
TV: NBC - 12:30pm/et
Race re-air: TNT on Tues, Oct 15th at 1:00am/et; Speed
Channel on Wed, Oct
16th, 8:00pm/et; Thurs, Oct 17th, 1:00am/et
Pre-Race Show: NBC - 12:00noon/et - Hosted by Bill Weber
Announcers: Allen Bestwick, Benny Parsons and Wally
Dallenbach
Pit Reporters: Bill Weber, Matt Yocum, Marty Snider, Dave
Burns
Purse/Race Awards: $4,064,495 (last year $3,411,864)
Entry List Link at: NASCAR.com
2001 Race Winner: Sterling Marlin, 139.006mph, started 13th
Event Race Record: Jeff Gordon, Oct 1999, 151.952mph
Track/Race Length: 1.5 mile D-shaped oval, 334 laps, 500
miles
Pit Road Speed: 45mph
---------------------------------------------------------------
Practice
Practice: Thursday, October 10th, 3:30 - 5:30pm/et;
Saturday, October 12th,
9:30 - 10:15am/et.
Happy Hour Practice: Saturday, October 12th, 11:15am -
12:00noon/et on TV-TNT
at 12:00noon/et.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Qualifying
Qualifying Draw: Thursday, October 10th, 2:30pm/et
Qualifying: 2 laps for positions 1-36, Thursday, October
10th at 7:05pm/et,
TV-TNT and live via PRN Radio, XM Satellite Radio and via
NASCAR.com's Racecast
(paid). No re-air date/time found.
NASCAR Online will have live lap-by-lap coverage of Winston
Cup qualifying via
the web (NOTE: this is a paid subscription service).
Second-Round Qualifying: there is no longer a 2nd round of
qualifying (since
the 2001 season)
Race/Event Qualifying Record: Ward Burton, Oct 1994,
185.759mph
Track Qualifying Record: Jimmie Johnson, May 2002,
186.464mph.
Last Year's Pole Sitter: Jimmy Spencer, 185.147, finished
11th.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Track Specs:
Superspeedway: 1.5-mile quad oval
Banking: turns: 24 degrees; straights: 5 degrees
Straights: Frontstretch - 1952.8 feet; Backstretch - 1360
feet
Grandstand Seating: 167,000
#10 Valvoline Pontiac Team Television Information
Pit Contact: James Ince or Drew Brown
Owner: Valvoline/MB2 Motorsports (Tom Beard, Nelson Bowers,
Read Morton)
Crew Chief/Car Chief: James Ince
Engine Builder: Hendrick Motorsports
Spotter Brian Dantinne
Engine Tuner: Ondre Rexford
Over The Wall Pit Crew
Gas Man: Jimmy Watts
Front Tire Changer: Bobby Burrell
Front Tire Carrier: Steve Genenbacher
Catch Can: Steve Mann
Jackman: Rob Jones
Rear Tire Changer: Greg Burkhart
Rear Tire Carrier: Shane Cooke
Other Crew Members
Truck Driver: Jerry Hess
Shock Specialist: Mike Cluka
Tires: Jeff Johnson
Mechanic: Roy Gidland
Engineer: Tim Turner
Computers: John Hayes
Scorer: Terry Lane
PR Rep: Drew Brown
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