Being the stars of a spin-off from Discovery Channel’s highly controversial reality TV series “Street Outlaws,” JJ Da Boss and Tricia Day have frequently been the subject of rumor and speculation. However, as they both thankfully have, and often use their social media profiles, most of these allegations are quickly put to rest. JJ Da Boss and Tricia Day are still happily involved with their family, and while there have certainly been ups and downs in their relationship, their bond is as unbreakable as ever.
JJ and Tricia’s close encounter with death
One of the most dramatic things that comes to mind regarding these two is the tragic crash that occurred on 12 January 2022, when while filming for “Street Outlaws: America’s List,” JJ’s car crashed into and over Tricia’s, causing them both to be hospitalized for a while, which put them out of business over a somewhat lengthy duration.
The Facebook page whose admins were at the scene featured an horrific post of four pictures of crashed cars. Most fans were confused and concerned as to what they might mean. The admin simply stated ‘Yall keep praying for JJ Da Boss and his wife Trish last night they were filming “America‘s List” and they both crashed Trisha Wayne is in the worst shape so y’all keep praying for the MSO family they need it right now Streetracin is real Guys just like JJ says tonight you could die and he means it So be careful to all y’all street racers.’
Discovery Channel itself uploaded a censored version of the tragic events a whole three months later, which doesn’t contain the graphic injuries but perfectly shows what happened. It all started right at the beginning of the race, at which point JJ was noticeably slower than Tricia following the start signal. He then wanted to get as much speed as possible out of his vehicle, which eventually overheated various parts around the engine, causing them to burst into flames.
Trying to avoid his face being burned, JJ steered the car any way he could so as to simply slow down as much as possible. He ended up ramming the driver side of Tricia’s car, which made her lose control, and continue on to drive straight into a few parked rental cars that were there to shield the filming equipment, such as the light towers and cameras.
JJ then flipped over only once, sliding his car across its roof metal for a few dozen yards before coming to a complete halt. Thanks to the very well-built driver cage of his vehicle, JJ didn’t suffer any physical trauma from the impact of the flip, and just had to deal with the fire that was blazing his way. Tricia, on the other hand, was not so lucky.
After colliding with multiple rental cars at a mind-boggling speed, Tricia sustained various injuries all over her body. Not only that, the front of the car itself was almost completely obliterated, and there was a visible explosion of flame right upon impact. The pain she was experiencing became audible immediately after she came out of the initial shock and got back to her senses, wailing and asking for help. The entire crew began shouting things along the lines of ‘Oh my God!’ as they rushed towards the crashed vehicles.
Tricia’s car wasn’t flipped over, but that was just about the only good thing about her crash. She started kicking the car faintly in a desperate attempt to get out, while still obviously dizzy from the ordeal. Fortunately, the emergency teams were ready to intervene, and firefighters were immediately on scene with fire extinguishers. Emergency medical responders were on site as well, providing immediate first aid to Tricia first, as JJ seemed to be generally unharmed.
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Day kept crying out in pain as the rest of the crew stood around her and watched in disbelief, some putting their hands behind their heads and feeling evidently helpless in the matter. She was quickly placed on a stretcher and rolled over into the ambulance. They immediately started asking about JJ, at which point someone said ‘JJ’s got burns. But he’s tough, he’ll be alright.’ Tricia was driven away in a matter of minutes, receiving proper detailed emergency medical care upon arrival at the hospital.
The crew then inspected the vehicles, between the two of which JJ’s somehow seemed even more damaged, evidently due to the fire that continued eating at his car’s engine and peripherals. It looked like a wreck that had a bomb placed under its hood, and many were in disbelief that JJ was still mostly alright. One crew member said ‘I don’t wanna see nobody get hurt, dude. We can only be as safe as we can possibly, because what we do is stupid enough as it is.’
Now, while the emergency responders were indeed at the scene, the same cannot be said for basic racetrack protection mechanisms, that are supposed to be in place before any such event occurs, according to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA). “Street Outlaws” and its spinoffs are already very well known for not respecting these basic safety procedures, which definitely could’ve saved both JJ and Tricia some serious hospital time.
It also turned out that not everything was sunshine and daisies for JJ either, who was also promptly hospitalized. He not only suffered worrying burns to both hands and his face, but also significant leg injuries. Both he and Tricia then had two screws each installed in both of their legs, which put them out of the racing scene for some months. On top of that, Tricia also had hip replacement surgery.
JJ and Tricia throughout their recovery
They later had a single screw removed from each of their legs, and around the start of spring 2022 they both seemed to be recovering a lot better, and slowly drifting back into their careers. For example, Tricia showed up in an episode of “Street Outlaws: America’s List” in a wheelchair after April 2022. It was her first public appearance following months of convalescing, and the crew were obviously stoked to see her. She explained that her condition is temporary, and that they’ll both be back on their feet in no time.
The episode was obviously recorded earlier than that, since Tricia herself posted a video on their Facebook profile on 1 April, explaining that at that point they had both already been walking again for about two weeks. She said ‘I guess I maybe took for granted a little bit, you know, having my legs and everything that I’ve been blessed with. Having that taken from you, you know, being a mother, being a wife, that’s huge.’
Hope everyone is enjoying the season so far!!! Who's ready for tonight's episode? Who's ready to see #Ziptie & #Tricia! https://t.co/hJKahzZsBl
— JJ Da Boss MSO (@MSO_JJdaboss) February 20, 2018
It was obvious from the video that the couple have learned their lesson, and will next time be a lot more careful when speeding to unimaginable velocity towards the finish line. She added ‘Thank the good Lord that, you know, he watched over us that day and kept JJ and I safe, and we were able to come home to our kids and our family, and, you know, all of that good stuff.’
Amazingly enough, the couple were way ahead of schedule on recovery. They were supposed to not use their legs at all for a minimum of six months, which would mean they’d only be able to walk in late June. As Tricia explained, they were back on their feet in just over two months, and the doctors agreed to take out one of the screws in each of their legs, but the second had to remain in place for longer since it kept them from having serious issues that might see them back in a hospital wing. The one last injury that she let the fans know about was the dark line above her lip, which is apparently a scar.
Tricia then took the phone with herself as she visited JJ, to show the fans what he does in his spare time while recovering. She explained how she still has to look at the ground while walking because she still needs to visually see where she’s stepping, as she tends to trip from time to time. Day thanked a few particular fans for being supportive; she also mentioned that she has a sinus infection that comes with the spring.
JJ was then seen standing on both of his legs, and later moving them without a problem; he was polishing a blue muscle car, and apparently having no issues with keeping his balance. The video then turned into a classic workshop stream, with JJ showing off some brand-new cars and other important work that he was doing.
In another video that Tricia posted only two days later, the couple were seen getting ready to floor the pedal on a new racetrack, showing that the mobility issues they had at the time were too minor to keep them out of the business any longer. JJ even took the car for a spin a few times, though no actual race was shown in the video.
The other time JJ almost died
While the aforementioned incident is certainly tragic in nature, JJ is actually known for being nowhere near as careful as one should be in his line of work. The crash with Tricia wasn’t his first accident behind the wheel, although it was definitely the most serious.
In late August 2017, JJ was transporting his 1949 Chevrolet pickup ‘Ole Heavy’ and 1966 Chevy II ‘Heifer’ on the way to a racetrack in Arkansas. He was using a GMC Sierra pickup to haul both of these rigs, and somewhere along the way he fell asleep at the wheel, due to sheer exhaustion. He crashed into a concrete culvert around Newport, Arkansas at approximately 55mph (88kmh).
As a result of the impact, the Chevy situated in the back of the flatbed trailer – for the purpose of faster unloading in case its engine needs repairing – sprung loose from its straps and rammed the back of the Chevy II. The other car was then flung out of the flatbed along with the first, and they both tumbled down into a ditch, causing significant damage and having many parts scattered across the road.
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JJ himself obviously had a literal wake-up call, and only avoiding grave injury through sheer luck sustaining only a broken hand and rib, along with a few minor cuts and bruises. His ‘Heifer’ rig took the most significant blow in the ordeal, requiring an almost complete rebuild of both its front and rear chassis sections. While JJ did manage to get his vehicles back in top shape relatively quickly, these were still costly repairs that wouldn’t have been necessary if only he’d been more cautious while driving between locations.
The man himself said for dragzine.com that ‘It’s probably going to cost me 15 to 20,000 dollars to get it back. David told me that in any other situation the car would be totaled, but because I’ve owned it for so long – I bought the car when I was 20-something years old and it has a lot of sentimental value – I wanted to fix it at all costs.’ This is precisely what he did, but not to the amusement of his family and loved ones, all of whom were shocked to hear what happened.
JJ and Tricia’s career today
As one can infer from taking a look at JJ’s website, the business is alive and well in their family in late September 2022. The four crew members represented on the front page are JJ himself, his wife Tricia, also nicknamed ‘Midget,’ a woman called Precious, or ‘Queen of the Streets,’ as well as her younger sister Chelsea.
A look at JJ’s upcoming events in the latter half of 2022 also confirms that he’s fully back on track, seeing as he will be hosting JJ’s Armdrop at Cedar Creek Dragway in Kemp, Texas, between 30 September and 1 October, as well as the JJ DaBoss vs Kye Kelley rematch event at the Battlefield Dragway, in Collinsville, Mississippi.
