Racer McKenna Haase Released From Hospital After Violent Crash At Knoxville

UPDATE: Sunday Haase was released from the hospital. See her video below.

Up and coming racer McKenna Haase remains in an Iowa hospital Saturday after a violent crash Friday in the lead up to the Knoxville Nationals.

The 27-year-old Sprint Car driver was racing in the first heat race of the Hard Knox race a last chance qualifier for the Knoxville Nationals at Knoxville Raceway when she made contact with another driver. Her sprint car was sent spinning into the outside wall in turn 1 and flipped several times before coming to rest on its side. Safety workers carefully extracted the injured driver from the car, and she was immediately sent to an area hospital.

According to an update from her mother, the local hospital wanted to transfer her to a trauma center, but both closet centers were full, so they held her locally. Her mother gave that update Friday adding that she has “a pneumothorax in her lungs, ripped up mouth and tongue, very sore neck and body.” She added on Saturday that the pneumothorax (a hole in the lung which collapses it) had gotten larger.

Haase made history in 2015 when she became the first and only woman in the history of Knoxville Raceway to win a sprint car race. She competed in 25 national events in 2022, including the Knoxville Nationals, the Kings Royal and 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora, and the Tuscarora 50 at Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway. She finished every race, recorded zero mechanical failures, and made it to either the A or B main in every event she entered.

Haase is a two-time winner in the 360 Sprint Cars at Knoxville Raceway and has been trying to work her way up the ranks of racing and has been mentioned as a future NASCAR hopeful. She currently has sponsorship from longtime NASCAR sponsor Interstate Batteries, a sponsorship that was announced this past April at Texas Motor Speedway during its NASCAR weekend.

This year’s Knoxville Nationals concluded Saturday night at Knoxville Raceway. NASCAR Cup series champion Kyle Larson won.

UPDATE: