On December 1, 2001 Joe was injured in a motocross accident while racing at Monster Mountain in Tallassee, Alabama. While jumping a 40 ft tabletop he hit a divot on the face of the jump that caused the bike’s rear suspension to rebound bucking him like a bull over the handlebars. Upon impact with the ground, he broke his back at the T-10/11 vertebrae leaving him immediately paralyzed from the waist down.