Jerry Nadeau died on May 2, 2003. Not physically, though he came close. It was on that day, however, that Jerry Nadeau lost the life he once knew.
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During a practice session [at Richmond] Nadeau’s car broke loose heading into a turn. Nadeau’s car hit the unprotected concrete wall on the driver’s side subjecting him to what was later estimated to be 128Gs, 128 times the force of gravity.
He would suffer a long list of traumatic injuries: a fractured shoulder blade, several broken ribs, a punctured lung, and a severe head injury. Nadeau would spend three weeks in a coma and doctors gave him only a 6% chance of surviving.
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Nadeau was on his own, and while he admits that he put himself somewhat in a hole and stayed away from racing, early on he did reach out to NASCAR to see if he could somehow be involved in the sport in some way. No one ever picked up the call on the other end.
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But don’t look for any bitterness from the former driver. He’s built a new life, and these days spends his time with family, working on his property and for the PTC Driving Academy in Tennessee, a few hours from his home.
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He’s spent the years since that day looking out the windshield, not in the rearview mirror. Recently though he received a chance to reflect on his life since his accident. Jennifer Tiedemann is the executive editor for Discourse Magazine published through the Mercatus Center at George Mason University. She’s also a longtime fan of Nadeau and approached him to write a story about his life then, and today.