Tale of triumph: NHRA crew member Dom Lagana doesn't let serious injuries keep him from living life

NORWALK — Anyone who has been a longtime spectator at Summit Motorsports Park has heard the name Lagana. Bobby Lagana Sr. raced Funny Cars in the 1970s and Bobby Lagana Jr. was a fixture on the IHRA circuit competing in the Top Fuel class. Dom Lagana, the youngest Lagana son, was always in the pits working on the cars and actually ended up earning his Top Fuel license in 2009 and competing in match races as well as on a limited NHRA schedule. In 2013 he joined his brother, Bobby Jr., in working on the race team of NHRA Top Fuel drivers Steve and Billy Torrence ... and he found his niche. Steve Torrence has won three straight Top Fuel world championships. He sits atop the NHRA Top Fuel points standings while Billy Torrence, who has won seven career national events, is third. It all changed in an instant in August, following Steve Torrence's national event victory in Indianapolis. Dom Lagana was driving on a remote highway Aug. 9 with two passengers when his car went off the road. Both passengers walked away with minor injuries, but Lagana was trapped in the car and suffered severe burns to both legs and a major head injury. He spent 103 tenuous days in the burn unit at Eskenazi Hospital in Indianapolis, many of those days in a coma, and it was not certain he would survive. After a month-and-a-half he woke up. He eventually showed no problems from his traumatic brain injury, but both his legs had to be amputated and he lost the thumb on his right hand. His first thoughts upon waking from his coma were of other people, including his fiancee, Sara Matthias. They were supposed to be married Sept. 11. "One of the first things I remember after waking up, grasping what happened and what the date was because I had lost a month-and-a-half, was that I had missed my wedding," Lagana said. Lagana also had to come to grips with his injury and his new way of life. He said the support he received from the drag racing community, both drivers and fans, was the most important part of his journey to recovery. "All the support I was given was big motivation," he said. "Not going to say you work to overcome something like this just so you don't disappoint people, but I really didn't want to let anyone down. "All the T-shirts and stickers on cars, all the support from the people at the hospital, all the support that Sara showed me ... all the time I spent watching the races on the IPad ... I tell people all the time, that went a long way towards my recovery. "They all showed me that there was something I had to work to get back to." That work included getting back to the track to work on Billy Torrence's car. This season he's back in the pits, doing what he loves, which is where he was over the weekend at the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals. He also has put things into perspective. "I was in a car accident. There are kids that get cancer or that lose a limb because of sickness ... that's the terrible stuff," Lagana said. "There are times I need support and sometimes I felt bad for looking for support because there are people in way worse situations. "I think I grew mentally to understand that. I can see that no matter how something happens or why something happens, everyone needs some kind of support. As I get healthier I want to help as many people as possible. "I had a lot of things that go my way that were out of anybody's control. My body healed. My brain healed. You can't get medicine for a messed-up brain, it either heals or it doesn't. That went my way and for that I'm lucky, but you can't let anything hold you back. "In the winter I wanted to be able to go to the starting line in Gainesville, even if it was with a walker. I was able to do that. Set goals for yourself and work for it. And accept help if you need it because there were so many people that helped me." NHRA Top Fuel driver Clay Millican met and competed against the Lagana family for years on the IHRA tour. "I always looked at Dom as one of my kids," Millican said. "I don't know how young he was when I first met him but he was a kid. When he got hurt it was like one of my kids got hurt. I am so thankful that Dome is still here, but more importantly, I have been so impressed with how Dom is just moving forward. "His outlook is so impressive. I know he has bad days ... everybody has bad days ... but you never hear him say anything down and out. None of that. Dom is just an upbeat, inspirational person and I love the guy." As for Lagana's marriage to Sara, plans are moving forward. "I was so upset, but Sara didn't care about it," Lagana said about his missing the original wedding date. "All she wanted was for me to get better and that was great motivation. Once I could grasp everything and I got off the painkillers I told Sara I wanted to see what they could do with the prosthetics, then we could get married. "If the prosthetics didn't work out I told her I would roll right up because I wanted to get married. I told her if it worked out and I could stand again I would love to walk down that aisle. By the grace of God it's worked out quicker than expected and we're getting married this September. "I have a wonderful woman and I'm so lucky to have her. We love each other and will go through things together. That's what it's all about." Three-time NHRA Funny Car world champion Matt Hagan thinks Lagana is an inspirational person people should learn from. "I have so much respect for Dom and his family, to be in that situation and to not give up," Hagan said. "I watched an Instagram video of him just walking across the pits, to where he was going to go work, and to think about having that type of injury and to just keep digging ... I have so much respect for that. "There are people that would just give up. To see him where he's very functional, living his life and doing what he loves and getting married, that with guts and hard work and a positive mentality you can do anything. "I think he's a prime example of what we all need to look for when we're down in life. He showed us you can dig deep, fight back and get to where you need to be." Contact Mike Perry at 329-7135 or macsportstalk@gmail.com.