You'd think that surviving a plane crash where you were stranded on one of the Great Lakes for more than 18 hours would be enough excitement for a while, but for the North Country man who just went through the ordeal, apparently not. Pilot Mike Trapp also races cars and less than two weeks after his crash he was back behind the wheel.
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LAFARGEVILLE, N.Y. -- Those who know him say of course he'd joke about it, but just days ago, Gouverneur pilot Mike Trapp was not laughing, instead fighting for his life.
His plane went down on Lake Huron in Michigan and he stayed afloat for 18 hours before help finally arrived.
"You get a new understanding of how special things are. What you take for granted," Trapp said.
As much as he loves flying, he loves the adrenaline rush on the ground as well. His race car. And less than two weeks after his amazing efforts to survive, he was back behind the wheel for the Friday night races at the Can-Am Speedway in LaFargeville.
"It's not really strenuous to race,” Trapp said about racing. "My muscles are sore and I'm getting help in and out of the car, but all I've got to do is push a gas pedal and brake and steer a little. It's not that complicated or hard on the body."
And Trapp, who no question loves to crack the jokes, says racing was a big part of keeping his head on straight for all that time.
"Figuring how I can sup my car up to win,” Trapp laughed out. "Just kidding."
But of course 18 hours of treading water is a long time. The folks here were certain that they'd had lost one of their own. If fact so sure, they'd already planned to honor his memory here tonight.
"We were going to do a prayer for him and a moment of silence and a bunch of other stuff and one phone call later we find out that he's alive and he was safe,” Can-Am Speedway General Manager Chip Burdick said. "It was crying and joy. How often do you cry in joy?"
"I'm a little worried they were calling me out for dead there,” Trapp said with a big smile on his face. "I don't know how to take that. Their heart was in the right place but give a brother a break."
"I had to go up and tell him,” Can-Am Speedway owner Tiger Chapman said. "I had to shake his hand and I said, 'Mike, I wouldn't have last 18 minutes in that water. You are a hell of a man."
A man who says he's just trying to get back to normal and doing it in the only way he knows how.
Mike Trapp was rescued after those 18 hours by a couple on a yacht from Grosse Pointe Farms near Detroit, who saw him waving a sock in the air.
Watch Video: http://centralny.ynn.com
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