Snowmobile rider recalls terrifying ride

IRON RIVER — Cameron Lundry has a new lease on life after experiencing a freak snowmobile accident Saturday in Greenland at the drag racing competitions.

It was the 22-year-old’s first-time racing on a sled.

“The last two winters I’ve been out on the test track just getting a feel for it,” said Lundry. “I thought I was ready. Then a freak accident happened.”

During Lundry’s third qualifying heat, his sled immediately stood up when he hit the gas.

“She felt like she was going to sit back down, but once that clutch engaged it shifted and it stood right back up. I let off the gas and I left off too much. It just slammed me down, took my foot right underneath and chewed me up.”

When Lundry disengaged his hands from the sled, his ride’s kill switch shutoff the sled’s power. Cameron’s lower half was stuck in the machine.

If not for the kill switch and his protective vest, Lundry says his body would have been chewed up by the sled.

“The safety precautions are needed. If I wouldn’t of had that on, it would have been even worse.”

When Lundry’s sled came to a stop, emergency responders and race officials all rushed to his aid. They were able to roll the sled backwards and disengage his lower half away from the snowmobile.

Cameron was taken to Aspirus Ontonagon Hospital, where he received 60 staples and seven stitches in his left leg and back to close up his wounds. Lundry will be on crutches for a few weeks while he heals.
After his accident, Cameron says he values his life even more and he plans to race again.

“That was definitely a life-changing experience,” he said. “Things can happen so fast that you don’t even see them coming. I wasn’t doing the right things before this and now I just want to change everything. I still want to race and I want to thank everyone who was out at the races.”