In auto racing, you expect crashes – and when they happen, you see a lot of rescue personnel rush to the scene. Only two weeks ago at Badland’s Motory Speedway, one of rescuers became the rescuee.

Jay Masur, who owns MedStar Race Rescue, serves a lot of dirt tracks around the region, including Badland’s Motor Speedway in Brandon. 
 
Three years ago,, professional race car driver Tony Stewart crashed his car in Oscaloosa, Iowa and Masur and his team responded. To this day Stewart credits Masur with saving his life. Now unbeknownst to him, he saved Masur’s life. 
 
Masur has been working dirt tracks for most of his life as an EMT and Paramedic. 
 
“We see a car upside down and flipping, our focus, we’ve got one thing on our minds and that’s to get there and help that driver get out of that situation,” Masur said.

Two weeks ago at Badland’s Motor Speedway, Masur was responding on his four wheeler to a crash. You don’t see Masur at first, but what you do see is his four wheeler rolling past the scene without him on it. 
 
“I believe I swerved to miss something and flew off the four wheeler and ended up hitting my head pretty hard,” Masur said.

Hard enough to knock him out. Masur was hospitalized for three days with a severe concussion. 
 
“I believe this helmet probably saved my life, there’s no doubt,” Masur said.

That helmet was given to him by Tony Stewart. In 2013 in Oscaloosa, Tony Stewart crashed his car and Masur quickly responded and saved Stewart’s life.

Following that incident, Stewart bought Masur and his MedStar crew the best life saving equipment money could buy as a way of saying thanks. 
 
“One of those pieces of equipment is this Simpson helmet right here,” Masur said.

Without the helmet, that Tony Stewart bought for him, Masur thinks he might have been killed.

Masur is still a little sore, but he is back to work and is reminded that there is no safe place on a race track, even when you’re the one who’s trying to keep drivers safe. 
 
“We all feel like, we’re bullet proof, we all feel, in the jobs we do, it can’t happen to us, because we’re pretty good at our stuff, but no matter how much we prepare, how much we plan, things happen, and at the end of the day, love your family, treat every day like it’s the last day on earth, because it may be,” Masur said.

Luckily for Masur, it wasn’t, and he now credits Tony Stewart for that in an ironic twist of fate. 
 
“We saved his life and I truly believe he had a huge part in saving mine,” Masur said.

Masur says he doesn’t remember the accident, but found out later he had swerved to miss hitting another rescue vehicle that was also responding to the scene. He says he hit his head so hard, it left an indentation on the track.