August 28, 2010 is a date that forever will be remembered by the Phibbs family and the flat track motorcycle racing community.
That was the day that 21-year-old Jesse Phibbs was involved in a freak accident on the Indy Mile flat track in Indianapolis. Coming out of turn two, Jesse collided with another rider during the first heat race and never regained consciousness.
Jesse was the middle of three boys in the Phibbs family — three boys who grew up on the family farm on County Road 14 east of Leamington, playing hockey, baseball and riding dirt bikes.
He was about to graduate the following spring from Fanshawe College, where he was set to become a Radiology Technician.
His parents, Michele and Matt, remember a happy kid who always had a smile on his face.
“We have a bunch of pictures and in 99 per cent of them, he’s smiling,” Matt told MacLean’s Magazine back in 2010.
Jesse excelled at hockey, but his real love turned out to be flat track racing.
Local flat-tracker Scott Buchan — a friend of Matt’s — took Jesse under his wing at Erie Ramblers when he noticed Jesse’s love for the sport and eagerness to learn. Jesse was 15 at the time and before long he was the best rider at the club.
He rose through the ranks and into the expert class in Canada, which allowed him to get his Pro Singles status.
“That’s like the NASCAR of bike racing,” Matt told the Sun recently. “He was really excited to turn pro.”
Earlier in 2010, Jesse raced his first competition as a pro at Daytona, where he didn’t qualify on the short track, but learned a lot.
Lima, Ohio, provided the next big challenge and Matt compares it to Leamington Raceway’s oval.
“Lima is a pea gravel half-mile like Leamington, only with two huge, wide corners,” he says. “Jesse qualified third-fastest and made his first ever main event, finishing 11th.”
Matt says that Jesse was thrilled and came home with a renewed confidence, racing in Leamington and Wheatley before heading out to Indianapolis for the Indy Mile in August.
The one-mile track was new to Jesse, but he was game for it and Matt was ecstatic when the qualifying results came up on the infield screen: Jesse had qualified as the fastest of the 450cc bikes with his 2008 Honda.
“The second and third practices he did very well,” says Matt. “I can still picture him coming out of corner two passing two riders at a time.”
For qualifying fastest on the day, Jesse was interviewed by Fast and Dirty Magazine at the start-finish line. He, his parents and girlfriend Ashley were thrilled with the qualifying times.
Soon it was time for the heats and thanks to his stellar practice rounds, he was situated at the very front of the field.
Matt remembers being on the track with Jesse as he prepared for the heat.
“I started the bike and patted him on the back and told him the same thing I always told him when he went on the track “…Go have fun, Jesse,” remembers Matt. “Little did I know that would be the last time he would reply to anyone.”
The accident occurred coming out of corner two. He went down and another rider could not avoid him.
He was taken to Indiana University Health Methodist Hospital, where he spent three weeks fighting for his life before Michele and Matt were advised to move him to Victoria Hospital in London, Ontario, where he passed away after 17 days there.
His racing family and the local community back home had prayed for a positive outcome and Matt says the Indy Mile folks allowed them to stay with their motorhome on the track’s infield — something they are forever grateful for.
While there, the Phibbs family kept vigil with hope that Jesse would rally, just as he had so many times on the track.
Jesse Phibbs passed away 15 years ago this weekend, October 5, 2010. The racing community still misses him and honours him regularly.
For his parents, it seems like a distant memory, but they smile when they talk about their middle boy, remembering his competitive but gentle spirit.
This weekend will bring back many of the unpleasant memories of those 38 days, but will also give his family and friends time to reflect on the human being who was destined for a great career helping people and a future in racing that most certainly would have brought plenty of accolades.
Jesse Phibbs on the track.
Photo courtesy of the Phibbs family
