Navigator craig parry forced to retire after rally germany injuries
Co-driver Craig Parry has been forced to retire from rallying in the knowledge that a repeat of the accident that hospitalised him in Germany this summer could cost him his life.
Parry was co-driving for Gus Greensmith when their Ford Fiesta R5 left the road in their pre-rally Germany test. The Welshman suffered serious hip and pelvic injuries and remained in hospital in Trier for three weeks following an 11-hour operation.
The former British Rally champion has been told he cannot compete again.
“The decision was completely out of my hands,” Parry told MN. “It was the pelvic specialist, when we went to see him that was my first question. His words were it was a ‘catastrophic injury’.
“He said I’ll be fit enough to come back, but another impact like that won’t fix again. At best I’d be in a wheelchair and at the worse I’d be dead. You’d never be able to get in a rally car with that in the back of your mind.
“The hardest thing was dealing with that: one minute you are OK, that’s your job, that’s your life, and the next minute you are being told you can’t go back to it. That was the hardest pill to swallow.”
Parry admitted he had been amazed at the support he’s received since the accident, adding: “The Greensmith family have been fantastic. I have been humbled by the amount of people that have been in touch. Phil Mills in particular has been in touch almost every day since I had the accident and Phil Pugh’s another. I don’t see myself as being in the public eye or anything. I see myself as a guy who loves the sport. But it’s not until something like this happens that you realise how much you are appreciated by people.”
Of Greensmith he added: “I’m sure I’ll still be involved with him in some way shape or form, but not to be in that car is going to be difficult.”