Closed Brain Injury (Concussions) The Subtle Incapacitator

RICKY CRAVEN

Craven’s impact with the fourth turn wall in practice for the 1998 race at the Texas Motor Speedway was so hard his eyes couldn’t focus for months. You can check out https://icueyewear.com/collections/reading-glasses-for-women if you need the best eyesight related details.

Now a racing commentator for ESPN’s “NASCAR Now,” Craven sometimes wonders if his degenerating eyesight and memory lapses are related to a series of crashes or being 46 years old.

“I guess I’ll never know exactly what causes it, but I am a little concerned with how quickly my eyesight is getting worse,” Craven said.

The crash at Texas was his third hard impact in three weeks. Craven called it “compound concussions” and it created a rare problem that made it difficult for him to have any depth of focus.

“That crash affected me more than I realized,” he said.

He attempted a couple of comebacks, highlighted by his stirring side-by-side battle with Kurt Busch at the Darlington Raceway in 2003, a finish that remains the closest since NASCAR switched to electronic scoring in 1993.

He eventually retired to become an analyst at ESPN.

“There’s a fine line between playing hurt and prolonging an injury,” Craven said. “Things make a lot more sense the older you get, but you still have questions. I’ve come to realize I may never know. I want to blame it on getting older, but you don’t know.”

BOBBY ALLISON

No matter how many times he watches the replays, Allison can’t remember the day he beat son Davey Allison to the finish line to win the 1988 Daytona 500.

He can remember the set-ups on dirt cars from 30 years ago, but often forgets what day it is. Despite the holes in his memory and the struggles to understand some things, he knows he’s fortunate to be alive.

Allison crashed hard at Pocono Raceway four months after winning the 1988 Daytona 500. He spent months in hospitals, often clinging to life. He still has a stint in his brain to drain fluid. He also walks with a limp and sometimes struggles with his speech.

But nothing can bring back his proudest day.

“I just keep thinking, ‘Maybe somebody will say the right thing and that will help that memory come back.’ There were times I recognized the kids, but I didn’t know what state I was in.”

Allison’s injuries led to a forced retirement. He toyed with the idea of making a return in 1990, only to have it struck down by NASCAR before it got out of hand.

His medical bills, added with a failed attempt as a car owner, left Allison separated from his wife, Judy, and eventually living in his old bedroom at his mother’s house.

“It’s really hard to quit on somebody else’s terms,” he said.

Bobby and Judy Allison are back together. Despite the death of sons Clifford in 1992 and Davey in 1993, Allison has slowly put some of the pieces back together.

The day he and Davey finished one-two, however, is gone. Every time he watches a replay, he gets frustrated.

“I get up and turn it off,” he said. “It does nothing for me.”

ERNIE IRVAN

Irvan almost died in a practice crash at the Michigan International Speedway in 1994. Five years later — and almost at the same spot on the race track — he had another life-threatening crash there.

And in the middle, he came back to beat Michigan for one of NASCAR’s all-time feel-good victories in 1997.

He beat the odds after suffering a traumatic brain injury in 1994, so when he escaped with his life after the same kind of injuries in 1999, Irvan finally made a tearful exit from the sport.

Irvan still has bouts of blurred vision. And since then, he’s committed to making sure everyone, especially children, know about the benefits of wearing helmets to prevent injuries.

“This is something that I treasure,” he said. “I don’t want to retire, but I knew it was the right thing to do. The doctors didn’t tell me I needed to retire. He told me there was a lot of things that can hinder me from being able to carry on a regular life.

“Being able to sit with my son, my girl and my wife, everything is worthwhile.”

Irvan escaped with his life, but he’s left to deal with the damage – most notably his vision.

“There’s no question I could get out there and perform,” Irvan said.

But there’s no chance he could survive a third trauma to his brain, his doctors said.

SAM ARD

Ard was a pioneer who helped build what’s become the Nationwide Series. He won 22 races and two championships in the first three years after the series was created in 1982.

But everything came to a crashing halt, literally, when he hit his head in a crash during the final race of the 1984 season at Rockingham, N.C. Although he won the championship, that crash wound up being his final race — and the beginning of medical problems that continue 29 years later.

Now 73, Ard has been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease — both probably accelerated by his career-ending crash.

Ard suffers with bouts of dementia, memory loss and mood swings. Ashley Kent, Ard’s neurologist in Florence, S.C., believes the diseases were magnified by Ard’s final crash.

“I think that the head trauma certainly made it occur at a younger age for Mr. Ard,” Kent posted on Ard’s website, samard.com. “We don’t know exactly how, but [a head injury] certainly is one of the risk factors for Alzheimer’s dementia. I don’t know exactly what the mechanism behind it is, but [Ard] probably already had some damage from the head trauma. Then, that probably sets up a degenerative process.”

Kevin Harvick, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Kyle Busch and Tony Stewart have helped generate money to offset Ard’s bills.

Some days he recalls enough to remember other drivers and his championships. Other days he struggles to dress himself.

JERRY NADEAU

So much of Jerry Nadeau’s short racing career is tucked away at an empty shop near Charlotte, N.C.

Not long ago he had a luxury motorhome parked at the private shop, as well as a racing simulator, trophies and cars.

Now all that’s left are huge holes in his memory and personal life following a hard collision with the first-turn wall at the Richmond International Raceway in 2003.

His impact was so hard, county rescue personnel originally said over their two-way radios the driver was dead inside the car.

He wasn’t, but it was close. Nadeau spent months in rehabilitation, and his recovery isn’t over yet. He still can’t remember the crash.

It took him three weeks to regain consciousness. He still has memory lapses, bouts of depression and numbness in the left side of his body.

He thought about making a comeback in the ARCA Racing Series, but that ended when his father, Gerard, died of cancer.

He pain is as much emotional as physical. He feels betrayed by a body that can’t do what it used to, and by a mind that can’t make sense of it all.

“It’s not the kind of memories you want to keep,” he said.

While he remains troubled by the way he left the sport, he knows any real comeback is impossible. He still deals with the pain of a crash that happened nine years ago, and deep down he never wants to go through that again.

“I don’t need to take that chance,” he said. “What if I bumped my head again? That’s in the back of your head.” (jacksonville.com)

So what is Dale Earnhardt, Jr.’s future?

Does he, in fact, just stay out the his race car for just the two races that he, his doctor, and Rick Hendrick have announced?  That would give Junior a two-week break, and allow his brain to try to recover from the back-to-back concussions.  Could we have seen Earnhardt drive his last Sprint Cup race?  Having NASCAR’s most popular driver come out front and into the open about his concussions, doing the right thing for his long-term health, and take himself out of the line of further danger in the short-term, notwithstanding the implications to his race team regarding the Sprint Cup championship in 2012, is quite brave and remarkable!

This could have far-reaching implications, not only in NASCAR, but it may flow into other sports, as well!

What are your thoughts?

(references sportsmedicine.com and jacksonville.com)

TIL NEXT TIME, I AM STILL WORKING ON MY REDNECK!