John Roberts Back in the Sulky

Johnny "The Rocket" Roberts, who was seriously injured in a Maywood Park qualifier in late September of 2003, has returned to driving full time on the Chicago circuit. Roberts, 23, a resident of Compton, Illinois has driven the winners of $1.4 million to date.

Roberts scored a third-place finish with the pacer Beach Runner Rosie, who paced in 1:52.4 on Thursday night, May 28 at Balmoral Park in his first drive after the accident.

"I was very anxious before the race," Roberts said. "I was pretty overwhelmed by being back at the track, thinking about being in the sulky again and around the rest of the drivers. But once I got behind the gate and I heard all of the hoof beats, I knew I was back where I belonged."

After being flipped from his sulky and then trampled by trailing horses, Roberts had originally been given a good prognosis by his team of doctors, who told him that his back would heal naturally and that he would not require surgery.

However, on December 11, 2003 John reported that he had numbness and a tingling sensation in both legs, and immediately contacted his doctors who ordered more x-rays. The doctors determined that one of John's vertebra (T12) had collapsed, and thus, surgery was required to repair the damage to his back.

"It was really disappointing at the time because I thought everything was going so well," John said. "But the doctors I've had virtually no pain associated with my back at all since the operation."

Roberts says that the doctors put two rods and two screws into his injured back in a lengthy operation in mid-December. His back shows a 12-inch scar from the surgeon's scalpel.

"My back never hurt at all, but there's now an indention in my lower right side where they took out some bone to use to fuse together parts of my spine. That was real sore for a long time, and it still feels weird even today," Roberts said. "It doesn't matter though now, I'm really glad to be back driving again and I've very thankful to everyone who was there for me when I was down. I found out that I had a lot of friends when I was laying in that hospital bed."

Roberts began his driving career in 1999, scoring 45 wins, 47 seconds and 43 thirds from 466 trips postward during that first season, and earning $209,621 in purses. His mounts increased to 626 in 2000, as he drove the winners of $328,878 for a 51-63-70 record.

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