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- TOPRARITÄT, da dieses NASCAR in Deutschland nie im Handel
gewesen ist und auch NICHT sein wird.
Worldwide Shipping
One Day after
By
Lee Montgomery, Turner Sports Interactive May 3, 2003
8:05 PM EDT (0005 GMT)
RICHMOND,
Va. -- MB2/MBV Motorsports general manager Jay Frye said Saturday that
driver Jerry Nadeau will be back and that his "feisty" attitude
will help him as he recovers from head, lung and rib injuries sustained
in a crash during practice Friday afternoon at Richmond International
Raceway.
Nadeau,
driver of the No. 01 Pontiac, visited the Walter Reed Army Medical Center
in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday, spending time with soldiers injured in
the war against Iraq.
Frye said the soldiers' positive attitudes left an impression on Nadeau.
"Maybe
that is a blessing in disguise that he saw that," Frye said.
"Now, he's going to have some of the same struggles that maybe some
of them are having. We saw their attitude, and (Nadeau) is the same type
kid. He's feisty. He's a winner. He's hard-headed, and he'll be back.
He's going to be great."
Nadeau
remains in critical condition at Virginia
Commonwealth University's Medical
College of Virginia Hospitals. All that has been
released about his injuries is that he is being treated for "head,
lung and rib injuries."
Busch
Series driver Jason Keller is substituting for Nadeau in Saturday night's
race.
Questions
still remain about the crash. Kurt Busch, who was just ahead of Nadeau on
the track, said it appeared Nadeau's car simply slipped.
"It
looked like a freak deal where he was just a bit outside the groove and
stepped on the brake pedal too hard," Busch said. "I wasn't in
position to see; I was too far to the right of him. But I heard his
left-front tire lock up. When you do that, it makes it very hard to
steer."
Nadeau's
car went into a snap spin and slammed the outside wall between turns 1
and 2. Frye said it appeared Nadeau kept his foot on the accelerator to
try to slow the car as it was going backwards, as is usually the case in
a spin.
"Instead
of a four-wheel backwards slide, there was a two-wheel brake slide with
the rear wheels being lit up, which they didn't grip," Frye said.
"That is my speculation."
Frye
said there was no indication of anything mechanically going wrong.
"We
were having a great practice," Frye said. "We were going very
fast. It was just one of those things that happened. It was an
accident."
Nadeau's
battered car was en route to NASCAR's research and development center in
Concord, N.C. for evaluation. Indications are all the safety
paraphernalia inside the car were intact, but his aluminum seat did give
way slightly. There were no indications that caused any injuries,
however.
After
Nadeau was taken to the hospital, Frye said doctors immediately began
working on Nadeau. But there was a period of about three hours where
nothing was known about his condition. Nadeau's wife, Jada, had yet to
arrive, so there was nothing to do but wait.
"Obviously,
when that is happening, what do you assume? The worst," Frye said.
"Well,
then a doctor came in with a smile, and it was like, 'OK, here's the
deal.' It made us all feel a lot better. Obviously, he is hurt. But it
didn't seem like what we thought it could have been."
Frye
said he wasn't sure how long Nadeau would remain in the Richmond
hospital, as doctors are still performing tests. Frye said Nadeau's vital
signs are "very good," but Nadeau remains sedated so doctors
can work on him.
"He
looked great," Frye said. "Once I went in to see him and left,
it made a world of difference to me. You go in not knowing what to
expect. Then you see -- 'There's your guy. Everything is OK. He's going
to be fine.' Again, I'm not a doctor. We don't know that. He's in
critical condition."
But the
worst appears to be over for Nadeau. He's still very much on the minds of
his competitors, however.
"It's
very difficult to continue moving forward," Busch said.
"Obviously, there's things to be learned
from it. We have to believe he's going to be OK, and he'll be able to
come back in the car, and we're going to act as if he's out there with
us. It's tough to move forward.
"It's
difficult because turn 1, every time you go through there, you're
conscious of him."
Fans
may send well wishes to Nadeau at:
Jerry Nadeau Fan Club
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