Prayers still are needed for the local businessman who was involved in a speed racing crash on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah.

Rob Freyvogel, owner of the metal coatings company Carbinite in Renfrew, crashed his land-speed racer while going about 350 mph in an attempt to break the land-speed record.

Freyvogel has been in intensive care since the crash Sept. 15, and his wife, Sue Freyvogel, has been sending updates via posts to the Carbinite LSR (Land Speed Racing) Facebook page.

Sue Freyvogel had good news to post Monday.

“Good news from the MRI. While there is definitely damage, it's not as bad as anticipated,” Sue said. “No brain stem or spinal cord damage.”

While there is room for optimism, Sue also relayed that the road ahead is uncertain.

“It's hard to know the outcome since there haven't been many people surviving a 400+ mph crash. We still have a long road ahead,” she said. “This is good news, and we all need that right now. Thank you for all you have done for us!”

According to previous posts by Sue, Rob Freyvogel has been medically sedated since the accident, and he has not been conscious.

She said her husband has responded, but it is all by reflex, not through conscious effort, which hints at further uncertainty about brain damage.

Andy Hixon, Rob's partner in Carbinite, said he returned home from Utah on Sunday, just missing Rob's MRI.

“It's definitely good,” Hixon said, having found out about the news after his plane landed in Pennsylvania.

Hixon said he and Rob had discussed crash scenarios in the past. He said they were aware that they could happen, but they were also confident in the car's safety.

The car called “Carbiliner” has recorded speeds around 350 mph at the Bonneville Salt Flats in previous events.

“If you're going as fast as he was trying to do, you know it's a possibility,” Hixon said. “At those speeds, things happen very fast.”

Hixon said the community response to Rob's accident has been amazing, both locally and by members of the racing community.

He said a close friend of Rob's, Travis Geisler, has set up a GoFundMe page, searchable by “Help the Freyvogel Family,” that people can send money to support the Freyvogel family as Sue and Rob are in a hospital 2,000 miles from home.

The Freyvogels have five children.

Hixon said Rob earned much of the support that he's received through his pleasant interactions with people in his communities.

“Rob, he's very giving. He treats everybody like his family and friends,” Hixon said.

Hixon said there is a select few in the racing community that are products of their team. He said they are people who started out as volunteers on Carbiliner and found their lives taking them to other teams and other passions.

“We would call them our strays. We would pick up strays all over the place,” Hixon said. “A lot of those strays have become really good friends.”

Hixon said in addition to racing, Rob was once a Boy Scout leader, and he belongs to the Grove City Alliance Church through which he had gone on multiple missions to distant and needy countries.

He said Rob also made multiple trips to an orphanage in Mexico, through an organization called Youth with a Mission.

According to Hixon, Rob is extremely proud of his mission work, but he also enjoys inspiring young local minds.

He said Rob took the racer around to different schools in the county to show children what inspiration can create.

He said Rob really enjoyed letting kids sit in the car, sitting behind the wheel to imagine themselves chasing time by the mile.

“Even in the starting line,” Hixon said, “he just throws the kid in and takes pictures with them.”