Jason Keller rested at home in Greenville over the weekend, a “little sore,” he said, from the worst wreck of his racing career. Keller hit another car and the Daytona International Speedway outside wall hard Saturday on the next-to-last lap of the Koolerz 300 Busch series season opener and sat in his crumpled car for scary seconds as flames poured from under the hood. Keller was checked at Halifax Medical Center for a possible concussion, but a CT scan was negative, and he was released from the hospital late Saturday afternoon. Because driver head injuries have been a major issue in NASCAR racing in recent years, Keller must consult with NASCAR medical officials again this week before getting clearance to race in Saturday’s second Busch race at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham. He said Sunday he sees no reason he won’t be able to drive. Keller said he didn’t lose consciousness. “I didn’t black out, but it’s the closest I’ve ever been,” he said. “For a couple of seconds, I can’t remember exactly what happened. I’m glad they ran all the tests.”(Greenville News)(2-19-2003)
UPDATE: Jason Keller, involved in a bad wreck with two laps remaining in last weekend’s season opener at Daytona, remains sore from his accident but said he is ready to compete this weekend. Although a CT scan did not show a concussion, Keller did suffer some amnesia from the incident. He can’t recall the minutes immediately following the accident, even though he did not black out. “It was the first time in my 22-year racing career that I had to leave the race track in an ambulance. Hopefully, I’ve got 22 more,” Keller said. “I’d by lying if I said I was 100 percent. Sometimes you have to play hurt and this will be a couple of weeks where I have to play hurt.” Keller called the incident “a careless accident.” Todd Bodine hit Jimmy Vasser from behind to start the four-car wreck. “I was unfortunate to be behind it, and that’s the bad part of it; it wasn’t anything of our doing,” Keller said.(ThatsRacin.com)(2-21-2003)
