Johnny Crawford is on the mend and is back doing what he loves: covering auto racing for his hour-long “Mainely Motorsports” television show on cable TV.

Crawford is recovering from an April 30 accident at Unity Raceway in which a race car driven by Anson’s Mark Dodge flew through the air during a wreck and landed on him.

Crawford was shooting the race with a video camera at the time.

Crawford, who used to lease Unity Raceway, was airlifted by the LifeFlight helicopter service to Bangor’s Eastern Maine Medical Center. He was in intensive care for several days with neck and head injuries.

“I’m doing fine. I get tired awfully easy,” said the 38-year-old Crawford. “I’m still healing. My neck is still stiff. I’m getting physical therapy for my neck.”

Crawford returned to anchor his “Mainely Motorsports” show last week and has been shooting footage for it.

“It was really good to be back,” said Crawford, who produces the show and co-hosts it with Marco Thomas.

However, he said his video camera and tripod were “destroyed” during the accident so he had to borrow one.

“Hopefully, I’ll find a sponsor and that will enable me to buy another one,” said Crawford.

The night of the accident is a blur.

“I don’t remember any of it,” said Crawford, who lives in Fairfield.

He is indebted to the LifeFlight helicopter and the medical staff at EMMC.

“They did an outstanding job. And the LifeFlight was awesome,” said Crawford.

He said he was told by doctors he was lucky to be alive and he counts his blessings.

“I say a prayer every night. I do,” insisted Crawford who also credits his girlfriend, Kim House, for playing a pivotal role in his recovery. She was with him the night of the accident and she was slightly injured.

He has metal plates in his jaw and lost four teeth in the accident. So he has a denture plate/mouthpiece.

“And I had never had a cavity,” he said.

Once his jaw heals sufficiently, he will receive implanted teeth to replace the ones he lost.

He said he has a “lot to be thankful for” and said he received more than 3,000 e-mails and 1,000 get-well cards. A couple of benefit dinners, one organized by George and Sherry Fernald, and the other one organized by Paul and Penny Shorette, raised a lot of money for which he will always be grateful.

Crawford said he and Doug White of D.N.K. Select Used Cars and Trucks in Farmingdale are looking to put together a racing series at a variety of tracks for next season.

“It won’t be a pro stock series,” he said.

McAlpine having great year

Burnham’s Carl McAlpine is having a remarkable run.

He entered Thursday night’s race card at Unity Raceway with a string of 17 consecutive feature wins.

He runs in the Wildcat and Mini-Stock classes on Saturday night and in the Wildcat class during the Thursday Thrillas division.

“I didn’t really expect to do this,” said the 32-year-old McAlpine, who has been racing for only five years and has 22 wins already this season.

He credits his team’s success to “consistency.

“And we’ve been lucky. We haven’t had any breakdowns yet,” said McAlpine.

“It’s exciting. It’s our best season, by far,” said McAlpine.

He said his crew “helps out quite a bit.”

His crew consists of his father Glen, Tim York, Petty Letourneau and Peter Smedberg.

Being the leader in two of the three points races – he started “three or four weeks late” in the Saturday Wildcats – has made him a marked man.

In fact, Unity Raceway officials have put a bounty on him. The first one to beat him will receive bonus money.

“It’ll be interesting to see if anybody new shows up,” said McAlpine who may retire from racing or move up in class and run in just one series next year so he can spend more time with his wife and three children.

Gordon won’t run Oxford 250

One veteran driver who will miss the TD Banknorth Oxford 250 on July 30 will be Strong’s Tracy Gordon.

Gordon, who finished fourth in the New England 125 Busch East race at New Hampshire International Speedway last Friday, said missing the Oxford 250 is going to be “weird.

“I’m not even going over [to watch],” said Gordon. “I’ve got a car but it doesn’t really have a competitive motor for it.”

He will run two more Busch East races, at NHIS and at Dover International Speedway (Del.) but that’s all he has planned right now.

“There’s a long time between [NHIS] races [two months]. Maybe we’ll get antsy [and race],” grinned Gordon.