Rich Arnaiz taking practice laps in the CCS races that opened Bike Week in 1991. Just after this photo was taken Arnaiz suffered a nasty crash coming out of the chicane that mangled his left hand. It looked to jeopardize his chances of racing in the Daytona 200 the following weekend, but in spite of the injury he finished fourth in that year’s race. (Larry Lawrence photo)

Rich Arnaiz used the CCS weekend that opened Bike Week at Daytona in 1991 as a warm up for the Daytona 200 weekend. Unfortunately for Rich things turned ugly when, shortly after this photo was taken, he crashed the Camel Honda Superbike coming out of the chicane. The crash resulted in a compound fracture of the little finger on his left and. It also tore all the skin off the back of his hand. With intensive treatments from fellow Superbike pilot Dr. Dave Kieffer, an orthopedic surgeon, Arnaiz still had some hope of racing.

In qualifying for the 200 Arnaiz’ hand was encased in a huge brown leather glove that covered bandages. When he came into the pits he held his hand close to his chest in obvious pain. In spite of his injuries and the discomfort Arnaiz managed to qualify his factory Honda on the second row.

In the race he toughed it out for 200 miles to finish a very respectable fourth. It was one of the gutsiest performances in Daytona 200 history.