Harness Racing: Hall of Fame driver John Campbell out 6-8 weeks

John Campbell was listed on some major contenders in Saturday night’s Meadowlands program, but the Hall of Fame driver won’t be on the track this Saturday and probably not for the next two months following an ice skating accident.

“I broke my collarbone,” said Campbell on Thursday morning, still a little sore after surgery. “It will be painful for a few days but after that it’s just going to take time.”

Campbell appeared frustrated of course considering how well he’s returned at the Meadowlands this fall and winter.

“I had built up some better drives since I came back in November,” Campbell said about his recent success that saw him fifth among the top drivers at the East Rutherford plant.

Trainer Kevin McDermott had made him the regular pilot behind Hypnotic Blue Chip and other top trainers had seen just how reliable Campbell was no matter which side of the Meadowlands racetrack the finish line was on.

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For Campbell, who has returned from some injuries suffered on the racetrack, breaking his collarbone is actually not something new.

“I broke my collarbone playing hockey when I was 17,” said Campbell.

“They did the surgery last night and put a plate in,” Campbell said. “We’ll see how the recovery is. If everything goes well they said between 6 and 8 weeks.”

While the timing couldn’t be worse, Campbell doesn’t expect the injury to have a long term effect since doctors have indicated he should have a full range of motion once the bone has healed.

“I’m mad at myself for letting this happen,” said Campbell. “It was just a bad patch of ice that I didn’t see.”

The 58-year-old driver has managed to return from many a mishap in the past and incidents much worse than this. With that in mind, Campbell remains optimistic about an April return.

“The 6-8 weeks is just to get back on the racetrack,” Campbell said, alluding to the fact that it may take some time after that to become acclimated.

The break is bad for Campbell but also puts another crimp in the shrinking population of Hall of Fame drivers at the East Rutherford plant, with Ron Pierce now in place on weekends at Yonkers Raceway.

It’s been a difficult winter on all fronts, not just for top drivers, but for racetracks in general as Thursday’s snowstorm brought with it more cancellations. Meadowlands, Yonkers, Freehold and Monticello were all forced to cancel due to the poor weather.