TULSA, Okla. — Growing up in Locust Grove, Daison Pursley dreamed of racing in the Chili Bowl.
"We were walking around the Tulsa shootout inside this exact building, I told my dad I wanted to race and he bought a car that night," Pursley said.
In 2021, at just 16 years old, he achieved that dream.
"With everything that has happened the past year and a half it's something that I love forever and cherish forever," Pursley said.
Just two months before he was set for a repeat appearance, a wreck on a track in Arizona left Pursley with a broken neck.
"After surgery I was paralyzed from the neck down," Pursley said. "They called me an incomplete quadriplegic, I think it was. From that moment on I just wanted to be inside a race car again and walk and just do all that I was capable to do."
For Pursley there was no giving up.
"When I could finally pick up my phone a week later and I saw all the support, it just motivates you to do good," Pursley said.
After surgery and rehab in Atlanta, Pursley not only showed up at the 2022 Chili Bowl, but walked in the grandstands. Just a few months later.
"All the people, the atmosphere here is amazing, but when they are all cheering for you, it's definitely something incredible and hopefully this year they will be cheering for me and I can hold up one of those little golden guys in my hand," Pursley said.
He returned to racing in August 2022. In September he won his first race.
And this week he returns to the building where it all started.
"I'm thankful and blessed for everything that I have today," Pursley said. "Miracles do happen and God for sure creates miracles to this day."
Pursley will race on Saturday night in the C-Main event.
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