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- Aug 18, 1999
Condition still critical; drivers visit
ESPN.com news services
RICHMOND, Va. -- Injured driver Jerry Nadeau remained in critical condition Sunday, two days after his car slammed into a wall during practice at Richmond International Raceway.
There were conflicting accounts of Nadeau's condition. The Associated Press reported Saturday that the driver was in intensive care with head, lung and rib injuries but that his vital signs were "very good."
But a source close to Nadeau, of Danbury, Conn., told the Hartford Courant that Nadeau was in an induced coma and has a skull fracture, and the prognosis as of Saturday afternoon was not good. The source also told the paper that a chaplain had been at the hospital most of Saturday.
"We're in a wait-and-see pattern," U.S. Army team spokesman David Ferroni told AP on Sunday.
Nadeau's wife, Jada, arrived at at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals late Friday night and his parents and sister also are at the hospital.
Neither NASCAR nor Nadeau's team have not given any details about the extent of Nadeau's injuries, and Ferroni told reporters he had no new information Sunday.
Before Saturday night's race, MB2-MBV Motorsports general manager Jay Frye said the team hoped it would know more by Sunday morning, when the results of new tests were known. Nadeau had good vital signs and was sedated while being put through a series of tests, Frye said Saturday.
Nadeau had not spoken since the accident, but acknowledged the presence of visitors by squeezing their hands, Frye said. Frye said team members and Nadeau's wife were encouraged after seeing him.
Nadeau got a hospital visit from Kyle Petty, Jeff Burton and NASCAR great Bobby Allison on Sunday. The drivers visited Nadeau the morning after the Pontiac Excitement 400, which was won by Joe Nemechek.
Nadeau had qualified 12th for the race. The team hired Busch Series regular Jason Keller to drive its backup car in the race, and Keller finished 32nd in his Winston Cup debut.
Nadeau was injured during the final practice for Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 when his car skidded entering the first turn, spun and slammed into the wall between the first and second turns.
Rescue crews sawed the roof off his Pontiac, and Nadeau did not appear to be moving when he was lifted from the car strapped to a body board. He was being given oxygen through a bag, and his neck was in a brace. His uniform appeared to have been removed when he was loaded a short time later onto a helicopter and taken to the hospital.
Frye said it appeared the back end of Nadeau's car began to come around as he entered the first turn and tried to compensate by mashing the gas pedal to the floor, common practice for drivers trying not to crash.
"It looked like that helped accelerate it going backwards," he said.
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Nadeau was wearing a HANS device, a head and neck restraint made mandatory in October 2001 -- eight months after the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.
The team, Frye said, is coping by keeping busy.
"Sometimes when you go though a difficult time, being busy's better," he said. "We've got to continue and that's the way Jerry would want it."
The accident occurred a few hours before the Busch series race on the track Friday night. The event had a record 14 caution flags for 93 laps.
"It's not the safest sport," said Kyle Petty, whose 19-year-old son Adam was killed in a crash while practicing for a Busch Series race at Loudon, N.H., in May 2000. "But we know that, and we accept that."
NASCAR impounded the car and was transporting it to its research and development center in Concord, N.C., for further testing, Hunter said.
Investigators already have ruled out early speculation that the accident was caused by a stuck throttle or a blown tire, he said.
Nadeau was racing in the clear when he lost control of his car.
Nadeau, a one-time winner in his sixth full season on NASCAR's top circuit, earned his only victory in the final race at Atlanta in 2000.
His best season in Winston Cup was 2001, when he had four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 34 races as a Hendrick Motorsports teammate to four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. Nadeau finished 17th in points.
After parting ways with Hendrick last season, he landed in a ride with Petty Enterprises in June and was on his way to an easy victory in Sonoma, Calif., when a gear broke in his car with two laps left.
It was just another bad break in his Winston Cup career: He ran out of gas while leading on the final lap of the 2001 season finale in Atlanta. A few months earlier, he'd been dominant in the inaugural race at Chicago when he lost his motor.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
ESPN.com news services
RICHMOND, Va. -- Injured driver Jerry Nadeau remained in critical condition Sunday, two days after his car slammed into a wall during practice at Richmond International Raceway.
There were conflicting accounts of Nadeau's condition. The Associated Press reported Saturday that the driver was in intensive care with head, lung and rib injuries but that his vital signs were "very good."
But a source close to Nadeau, of Danbury, Conn., told the Hartford Courant that Nadeau was in an induced coma and has a skull fracture, and the prognosis as of Saturday afternoon was not good. The source also told the paper that a chaplain had been at the hospital most of Saturday.
"We're in a wait-and-see pattern," U.S. Army team spokesman David Ferroni told AP on Sunday.
Nadeau's wife, Jada, arrived at at Medical College of Virginia Hospitals late Friday night and his parents and sister also are at the hospital.
Neither NASCAR nor Nadeau's team have not given any details about the extent of Nadeau's injuries, and Ferroni told reporters he had no new information Sunday.
Before Saturday night's race, MB2-MBV Motorsports general manager Jay Frye said the team hoped it would know more by Sunday morning, when the results of new tests were known. Nadeau had good vital signs and was sedated while being put through a series of tests, Frye said Saturday.
Nadeau had not spoken since the accident, but acknowledged the presence of visitors by squeezing their hands, Frye said. Frye said team members and Nadeau's wife were encouraged after seeing him.
Nadeau got a hospital visit from Kyle Petty, Jeff Burton and NASCAR great Bobby Allison on Sunday. The drivers visited Nadeau the morning after the Pontiac Excitement 400, which was won by Joe Nemechek.
Nadeau had qualified 12th for the race. The team hired Busch Series regular Jason Keller to drive its backup car in the race, and Keller finished 32nd in his Winston Cup debut.
Nadeau was injured during the final practice for Saturday night's Pontiac Excitement 400 when his car skidded entering the first turn, spun and slammed into the wall between the first and second turns.
Rescue crews sawed the roof off his Pontiac, and Nadeau did not appear to be moving when he was lifted from the car strapped to a body board. He was being given oxygen through a bag, and his neck was in a brace. His uniform appeared to have been removed when he was loaded a short time later onto a helicopter and taken to the hospital.
Frye said it appeared the back end of Nadeau's car began to come around as he entered the first turn and tried to compensate by mashing the gas pedal to the floor, common practice for drivers trying not to crash.
"It looked like that helped accelerate it going backwards," he said.
NASCAR spokesman Jim Hunter said Nadeau was wearing a HANS device, a head and neck restraint made mandatory in October 2001 -- eight months after the death of seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt.
The team, Frye said, is coping by keeping busy.
"Sometimes when you go though a difficult time, being busy's better," he said. "We've got to continue and that's the way Jerry would want it."
The accident occurred a few hours before the Busch series race on the track Friday night. The event had a record 14 caution flags for 93 laps.
"It's not the safest sport," said Kyle Petty, whose 19-year-old son Adam was killed in a crash while practicing for a Busch Series race at Loudon, N.H., in May 2000. "But we know that, and we accept that."
NASCAR impounded the car and was transporting it to its research and development center in Concord, N.C., for further testing, Hunter said.
Investigators already have ruled out early speculation that the accident was caused by a stuck throttle or a blown tire, he said.
Nadeau was racing in the clear when he lost control of his car.
Nadeau, a one-time winner in his sixth full season on NASCAR's top circuit, earned his only victory in the final race at Atlanta in 2000.
His best season in Winston Cup was 2001, when he had four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes in 34 races as a Hendrick Motorsports teammate to four-time series champion Jeff Gordon. Nadeau finished 17th in points.
After parting ways with Hendrick last season, he landed in a ride with Petty Enterprises in June and was on his way to an easy victory in Sonoma, Calif., when a gear broke in his car with two laps left.
It was just another bad break in his Winston Cup career: He ran out of gas while leading on the final lap of the 2001 season finale in Atlanta. A few months earlier, he'd been dominant in the inaugural race at Chicago when he lost his motor.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
