Jerry Nadeau will be back behind the wheel in a race Saturday, but not in a 3,500-pound stock car. Nadeau, a NASCAR Winston Cup driver, will be racing a 175-pound kart at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. For Nadeau, who was critically injured in May during practice at Richmond, Va., it’s an important step in his comeback. Only a few months ago, he could barely walk, still had difficulty talking and was happy to be alive. “I used to be the wildest guy on the go-kart track,” said Nadeau, 33. “But when I recently got into a kart, I was so afraid somebody would hit me. I was scared stiff of getting whacked.” Nadeau, a former World Karting Association champion, had every reason to be nervous. He had spent two weeks in a coma after his huge wreck, suffering a closed-head injury, not to mention a partially collapsed left lung, fractured shoulder blade and busted rib cage. In the hours after the crash, Nadeau was touch and go. “I’ve been battling pretty hard since the accident,” said Nadeau, who drove the No. 01 U.S. Army Pontiac for MB2 Motorsports. “Thank God I’ve been able to do stuff with my young daughter, Natalie Kate, and my wife, Jada. You just can’t put a Band-Aid over this thing and go back. It takes time to heal.” Nadeau has no intention of climbing back into a race car until he’s good and ready. Veteran Joe Nemechek will drive Nadeau’s Pontiac in the last two races of the season, including Sunday at Rockingham, N.C., and is contracted to run a full season in the Army entry next year. If Nadeau feels comfortable, he might – and he stresses might – drive in an ARCA or Busch Grand National race around April or May.(Full story at Mercury News via Detroit Free Press)(11-7-2003) UPDATE: The 33-year-old Winston Cup driver will compete in a 3-hour, go-kart endurance event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway outside Charlotte. Nadeau will participate as part of a three-man team that also includes his father Gerard and Ernie Irvan, another former driver whose NASCAR career was interrupted by a head injury. Nadeau suffered a moderate to severe head injury when his Pontiac crashed during practice on May 2. While he has driven Legends cars on a track with other drivers, today’s go-kart event will be his first real race of any type since the accident. “It’s very encouraging that he’s able to do this,” Jay Frye, general manager of Nadeau’s MB2 Motorsports Winston Cup team, said Friday at North Carolina Speedway. “It’s competition, so that’s good. It will test his stamina, so that’s good. He’s very excited about it, so that’s good. You could see a little hop in his step this week.”( Charleston Post and Courier )(11-8-2003)
