In the face of adversity is when you learn someone’s true strength of character.
Lose a few seconds on a rally stage? Go and win the next one. Told you’re not capable of achieving something? Prove them wrong. Suffer a 117mph accident in a race car and sustain substantial injuries? Bounce back and grab a class podium on your ARA National debut.
What 18-year-old Henry Tabor accomplished at last weekend’s Ojibwe Forests Rally was unbelievable anyway, regardless of this context. But considering what he’s been through, it’s nothing short of inspirational.
It’s little wonder his immediate reaction to DirtFish’s Brenten Kelly was full of emotion.
“This is a place I didn’t think I’d be,” Tabor said, composing himself. “It’s vindication.
“I’m finally… this feels like a breaking point for me, I can’t believe it.”
Henry’s sister, Madelyn, has been in the headlines this week after the incredible news that she’s been shortlisted by WRC Promoter to attend the 15-driver training camp at M-Sport Poland next month as part of the Beyond Rally program – and Henry was bursting with pride.
“Dude, I cannot tell you how excited and proud of her I am!” he beamed. “Like, I’m genuinely… when I heard that she had been selected, I jumped out of excitement.”
But Henry – the youngest of the multiple Tabor family members in competition – deserves his moment in the spotlight as well, because although he’s jovial and light-hearted in tone, what he has been through is deadly serious.
Although the Tabors are a huge US rallying family, Henry has actually done far more circuit racing than rallying so far. Competing in the Spec Racer Ford (SRF) series since 2021, he’s also been steering a 911 Cup Car in the Porsche Club of America championship this year too.
“I love competing in rallies and would love to do it more, but there just aren’t many events comparatively, and being in a family-run team, it’s more about what we can afford vs what we can run,” Henry explained.
“There also isn’t a great career path in rally in America, to be able to go professional I would have to go to Europe and try to run through the WRC ranks. Circuit racing has a much more substantial ladder for Americans like myself.
“If I could choose, rally would be my go-to, but making that a reality seems much more challenging.”
Henry has been a regular in the Spec Racer Ford series, but suffered a big accident in 2023
The rally vs racing debate could so nearly have been a moot point, as an accident in SRF at Road America almost eliminated Henry’s ability to do any motorsport at all.
“The crash involved eight cars at the famous ‘kink’ corner, Turn 11,” he remembered with pin-sharp memory. “I was 24th out of 75 cars on track.
“While going into the kink, the car in front of me lost control at the apex due to damage in an earlier incident. I had nowhere to go, so instinctively, I tried to avoid it by going into the small runoff area outside the track.
“I immediately spun backward and hit the safer barrier at roughly 117mph. I lost consciousness shortly after that and spun into the middle of the track, where I was broadsided by another car. We believe that the second hit is what caused the injury.
“I was brought off track straight to a local medical center, then to the nearest major trauma center, about two hours away. It was there I was officially diagnosed with a stage 3 basilar skull fracture and second/third-degree burns on my right arm and back due to the coolant overflow tank bursting and blowing hot coolant over me.
There were many times I wished I could take the brace off and get back into the car, but I obviously couldn'tHenry Tabor
“I luckily was not diagnosed with a concussion or a broken jaw, but both my helmet and HANS device had fractured, and my jaw was swollen.”
What followed were the “hardest three months of my life” as Henry recovered from his ordeal – physically and mentally.
“I spent a week in the Milwaukee Children’s Hospital (I was 17 at the time), where I was sent home in a neck brace and my arm wrapped. I spent three months in the neck collar for the skull fracture, which overlapped with the beginning of my senior year of high school. It was a lot of pain meds getting me through those three months!
“My mental recovery was a lot longer; living with the trauma of the incident was very difficult. There were many times I wished I could take the brace off and get back into the car, but I obviously couldn’t.”
Patience is not a virtue commonly associated with motorsport, but Henry had to be. And remarkably just a matter of months after his accident, he was back behind the wheel and taking on some rallies.
“My first event after the recovery was Tour de Forest in 2023. I ran the event to lock up the Regional L2 West championship with my dad in the co-driver seat,” he said.
Henry put all of the trauma behind him to score an incredible result in Ojibwe
“It was an emotional trip, more driving and less racing, but nonetheless, it was a monumental moment in my recovery.”
And that wasn’t all.
“I got my first career win in any division in April in the Porsche,” Henry added. “And I came back to the National ARA series last weekend at an event I’ve never run with a co-driver I’ve never run with, in a car I haven’t run outside of the rallycross series at DirtFish, to the podium in the most competitive class. It was one of the most significant moments of this year!”
Adversity does not define somebody; the response does.
Third in class, 10th overall and all on his first rally in almost a year, that tells you everything you need to know about Henry Tabor.
