After hitting a track wall, Linklater said he must have gone unconscious but the car kept going, scraping the side wall for several seconds before veering off track and driving front-on into the opposite wall.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I look back on it, I\u2019ve done a million laps around that speedway and never, ever crashed like that before,\u201d Linklater said.<\/p>\n
\u201cMy wife said that after the first hit into the wall, she didn\u2019t watch the bigger hit because she could see what was going to happen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gerry Linklater before his career-ending crash in April 2025. Photo \/ Tyler Hill Photography<\/p>\n
Following the incident, he was taken to Whanganui Hospital, then flown to Wellington Hospital and put into an induced coma for two weeks.<\/p>\n
He said it took a while to fully emerge from the coma and his memories started again in August \u2013 four months after the accident.<\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing I learned was that it\u2019s not at all like on TV, when they push a button and the person wakes up \u2013 it\u2019s f***ing not like that at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Linklater suffered a broken spine in two places, a broken sternum, rib and arm, and multiple brain bleeds.<\/p>\n
He said it took a while before he was told anything about the crash and remembered asking who crashed into him, to which his wife, Sarah Linklater, said \u201cno one\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only reason I wanted to know was so I could reach out to them and tell them \u2018no hard feelings\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Recovery had been a process and the brain injury had been the biggest challenge, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the times, when I wake up, I\u2019m already tired and it doesn\u2019t matter how long you sleep, sometimes you wake up and just feel tired,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not because I\u2019m not interested in what\u2019s happened or anything; your body just can\u2019t fight the fatigue.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said fatigue, short-term memory loss and moving slower were the biggest effects of the injury.<\/p>\n
Suffering a brain injury was like living in two worlds; one where you show up, smile and function, and the other where you recover in silence for hours, Linklater said.<\/p>\n
He said other people only saw the first world and rarely the latter.<\/p>\n
Linklater praised ACC, which modified his home to make it more usable and had approved further modifications.<\/p>\n
Gerry Linklater with the suit that was cut off him after the crash. A friend sewed it back up for him to frame. Photo \/ Fin Ocheduszko Brown<\/p>\n
Since the crash, Linklater has been busy; he got married, attended the NRL Magic Round in Brisbane, set up a \u201cman cave\u201d full of stockcar memorabilia and completed the 3 Bridges Marathon 5km walk.<\/p>\n
He said completing the walk with friends and family, seven months after the accident, was awesome.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was funny because the night before I didn\u2019t have very good sleep … but to me, my thoughts were \u2018you set your mind to something so do it\u2019,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Linklater\u2019s goal is to complete the event\u2019s quarter marathon this year.<\/p>\n
He thanked people for their support throughout his recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I got out of the coma and went on Facebook, it was humbling,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Nearly $16,000 was donated to the Linklater family through a Givealittle page.<\/p>\n
He said the Wanganui Warriors had been awesome to him, especially manager Rangi Dykstra.<\/p>\n
He praised his wife, who resigned from her job to care for him.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s nothing more that she could do \u2013 she\u2019s amazing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Linklater looked back on his career as a stockcar driver with pride.<\/p>\n
\u201cI still love it, I love the sport and I have no bad memories at all,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n