WOODBURN, Ore. (KOIN) — It’s been quite a long road for Sgt. Damon Coates to end up doing burnouts at the Woodburn Dragstrip.
Coates, a well-known spokesman for the Clackamas County Sheriff’s Office, was shot in the face in 2003. He and another deputy were responding to a call about a teenager in crisis when he was shot, leaving him critically injured and partially paralyzed.
The Chevy Nova he bought as a fixer-upper project for his teenage son was put on hold at the time. As Coates worked on rehab, his friends, family and fellow deputies worked to rehab the car.
Coates would visit the Nova at the the World of Speed Museum in Wilsonville, where one day he was given a challenge:
“He would come to the museum to see the car and I would start the engine up for him so he could hear it,” World of Speed curator Ron Huegli said. “I said Damon, now that it sounds pretty good, we gotta do a burnout. He does a thumbs up and I said ‘if you can get into the car we can go out and do burnouts.'”
For months, Coates worked with his physical therapy team toward that goal.
“He worked a lot of months to simply get in and out of the car,” his son, Jesse said.
Now with his wife Tammy in the back seat and his son at the wheel — Coates realized a dream that had seemed impossible.
“It just jolted us, gave us such a rush,” Tammy said.
“It is a huge accomplishment for him,” Jesse said. “He’s had so many ups and downs — a lot of downs recently — but he has never lost hope, which is just amazing.”
