Amateur driver returns to racetrack after corrective flatfoot surgery
Before the surgeries, Hutchings' arch was collapsed in one of his feet. Cody was able to lift the arch back to where it's supported to be.
After four decades of racing cars, Dave Hutchings was faced with a difficult decision – either have surgery to correct a lifelong foot issue or risk being sidelined from the sport he loves.
His flatfoot issue worsened over time, making it hard to drive a car – let alone a race car.
"With this problem, the heel kind of goes out to the side and foot collapses down," says Dr. Elizabeth Cody, an HSS Orthopedics at Stamford Hospital foot and ankle surgeon.
Hutchings says high-speed driving and intense pain do not mix on a racetrack.
"There's a technique we call heal and toe. You put the ball of your foot on the brake pedal, and you roll your foot to touch the gas pedal to raise the revs to match when we downshift and I actually go to do it and my foot won't move," he says.
Cody proposed that Hutchings have reconstruction surgery.
"His deformity was so bad, I had to fuse some of the bones together. It's such a big surgery, it's totally changing the shape of the foot and the primary goal of this surgery is to get you walking and standing pain free again, but I can't promise that you'll go back to racing cars," she says.
Once Hutchings agreed, Cody performed six separate surgeries on him at the same time.
Before the surgeries, Hutchings' arch was collapsed in one of his feet. Cody was able to lift the arch back to where it's supported to be.
Five and half months later, Hutchings was able to race at Lime Rock Park and won the first race.
"It's the best thing in the world. It's why I do this job. It's amazing, and literally that's what keeps me coming back to work each day," says Cody.
