Todd Hazelwood suffered a momentary dislocation of his left shoulder following a heavy last-lap collision with James Moffat while battling for the lead in Saturday's Trans Am race at Tailem Bend. The incident occurred as the two fought for position, and Moffat was later penalised for the contact.
Hazelwood, driving for Todd's Garage Trans Am, was attempting to duck under Moffat at the exit of the second-last corner when their cars made multiple bouts of contact. The first hit was violent enough to wrench the steering wheel from his hands, and as he tried to catch it with full opposite lock, a second impact caught him off guard, causing his left shoulder to pop out of its socket.
“The first wheel-to-wheel contact was quite violent in the steering, so his right-front wheel hit my left-front wheel,” Hazelwood told Speedcafe. “I was at full opposite lock trying to catch the wheel and when the second hit happened I wasn't ready for it, essentially. The wheel got ripped out of my hand with enough force to pop my left shoulder out momentarily. It was popped for about two to three seconds whilst I was travelling through the grass trying to gather it all up, and then it popped itself back in.”
Hazelwood immediately reported the shoulder issue to his team over the radio after the finish. A group of DJR personnel, including Jake Kostecki, team manager Tom Moore, performance coach Paul Haines, and physiotherapist Chloe Prudden, met him in parc ferme and escorted him to the DJR pit area for treatment. Supercars' medical delegate Dr Carl Le also checked on Hazelwood, but the driver did not require a trip to the medical centre.
“That was more as a precaution, just to make sure that if I needed any assistance or if it was bad,” he said. “From my point of view, the pain threshold was non-existent. It was like a one out of 10 pain. So I knocked back a couple of Panadols and had a bit of strapping to make sure that it didn't fall out again for the big day, and it was fine.”
This is not the first time Hazelwood has dislocated a shoulder in a race car. In 2018, he popped his right shoulder out during wheel-to-wheel contact in a Supercars race at Townsville. He described that dislocation as far worse, leading to subsequent mild dislocations, including while playing cricket and once while pulling on a jumper.
“I've been told recently that I've got bad genetics and my shoulders are prone to popping, which is a bit of a feature of the mould, apparently,” he said. “It was more annoying that this was actually my good shoulder! I've always looked after my right shoulder and now this one has decided to play up. Once you've dislocated your shoulder there's damage to the bone and so forth, so it's just something that I have to manage. We did the strapping at The Bend as a precaution, just to make sure that I was giving myself the best chance for it to obviously not fall out again. I've had scans since. I've been working with the team just to make sure I get the strength and conditioning back into the shoulder, and everything's fine.”
Despite the incident, Hazelwood took the start on Sunday and showed no signs of being hampered. The event serves as a reminder of the physical risks drivers face, particularly in close-quarters racing like Trans Am. With his shoulder now under monitoring, Hazelwood and his team will continue strengthening exercises to prevent further injuries.
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