Jerry Nadeau's Near Tragedy at Richmond
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- Опубликовано: 12 июн 2024
- On May 2nd, 2003, during a practice session at Richmond International Raceway, Jerry Nadeau was leading the session when he entered turn 1 a little too high.. He spun, then hit the driver’s side door at high speed. After being airlifted to a hospital in critical condition, he was only given a six percent chance of survival. Nadeau suffered complete immobility of the left side of his body, a skull fracture, a concussion, a collapsed lung, and several broken ribs. Today, we’re going to talk about Jerry’s career, the Richmond accident, and the heartbreak that took place following the crash.
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What happened to Jerry was so grossly unfair. It robbed the guy of nearly literally everything he had. Injured, abandoned by his wife and divorced, disabled permanently all alone. That's so hard. So unfair.
Nascar should have done more to prioritize safety back then. Had to wait until the tragedies happened before changing things when their safety team and frankly everyone should have realized it was only a matter of time, considering the deaths and injuries of the 90s
@@lightfeather9953This I believe is where they started adding safer barriers at the short tracks
dale sr stopped alot of it he had so much say before he died @@lightfeather9953
He still has his daughter at least and they are there for each other
only the most authentic of women moments
Crazy thing is he was actually talking on the radio before he lost consciousness
he had probably already lost consciousness; sometimes with head injuries, there's a quick lucidity and then unconsciousness again. but that's usually means the head injury would result in death.
Yea, growing up I honestly never really considered concussions being a nascar issue for whatever reason. I think I didn't consider it as an issue until Dale Jr. sat out a few races due to his concussion. I was watching a clip last week where Michael Waltrip slammed up into the wall. They had the in car camera on him and you can literally see him turn and look at the camera and then his head just drops and he goes all limp. It was really bad or hard to watch.@@ZaphodTHEBeeblebrox
The main reason we figure is the mechanism of injury was blunt force trauma. So that’s why he was able to have some useful consciousness. Had it been a basilar skull fracture from no HANS it would’ve been lights out immediately. Adam, Tony roper, Dale, Blaise, Kenny Irwin, Ernie Ervan, Scott baker, Neil bonnet, Rodney Orr, etc. they had basilar skull fractures or base of skull fractures from the brain getting yanked into the base of the skull via the spinal cord. So when the torso is seat belted. When you impact a wall the head continues at speed. Which only stops when the spinal cord yanks the tethered 3lb brain into the base of the skull. Which usually fractures it in a O-ring shaped fracture. -- jerry N. Has two 128g hits within 2milliseconds. He had removed foam from his head rest which most likely was the contributing factor. The key to not breaking bones is limiting movement. He created dead space removing that foam which allowed his body to gain momentum fractures the skull from blunt force trauma. Very different from a basilar skull fracture. Which will turn the lights out immediately. I had a 175g hit in 1999 and unfortunately got experience with the mechanism of injury. I woke up 4weeks later unaware of what happened. Because I had a 175-185mph impact rear first. My head hyper extended up and aft-right. I was able to return in 2000 but had to wear a early HANS device.
I had the Joy of Racing with Jerry on iRacing during a 87s event at Michigan. He was incredibly nice and fun to talk to and everyone in the race had immense respect and nice things to say about him. Hope he is finding happiness and some peace as the years go by.
That's really cool !
If you listened to very recent interviews, he is.
Can somebody get an event together with Nadeau, Irvan, Allison and some others whose careers were ended by crash injuries to compete with each other in an iRacing event?
Holy shit, that last quote where he talked about his head injury and finding work was one of the saddest things I've ever heard. I wish there was something we could do for him
Really had me thinking about how iron willed he was, and broke my heart to see the quote wishing he'd passed. TBIs are always absolutely devastating, we all recognize this, but when someone puts it into words it really hits hard.
Thanks for shining the spotlight on these drivers though, really enjoy your content.
I'll never forget Jerry Nadeau, he wasn't the best driver like I thought he could. Also I won't ever forget the Atlanta season finale where he won in 2000, but almost done it again in 2001 until he ran outta gas on the last lap.
💯
He was one of the better one hit wonders in NASCAR. He also had a legit shot in the 2001 Coca Cola 600 before blowing an engine, and in 2002 was the dominant car at Sonoma before his car’s rear end broke. Had he not been in that accident, I’m sure he could have gotten at least 2-3 more race wins in his career
@@thetrain3302Not just that, but a dominant run in 02 in the PE2 44 car of all teams.
This goes to show just how lucky NASCAR was to not have another fatality in the top 3 series after Dale Sr. (at least before SAFER barriers were installed at all all major NASCAR tracks).
This was an amazing video. I only ever really knew Nadeau from his career ending crash, but I gained a lot of respect for him after learning his story
Sometimes I wonder what if Jerry never had that practice wreck. He had potential, considering his consistency in 2003 up until the crash along with what he had to do to get his only win. He had to run down and pass the Intimidator, and he did. I personally think Jerry would have more than just one win if he never had that crash.
Really???
Actually I remember picking Jerry as my favorite driver when he drove that bright yellow #1 R&L carriers Pontiac for richard jackson. I liked the 13 ride, remember the huge goof going up the hill on the first lap at sears point when he blew the turn and cut thru the terf on turn 2. I was a big Jerry fan starting when he drove the cartoon network car for melling. I was so happy when he beat Earnhardt at Atlanta, and was a big fan when he drove for MB2, loved the army car. His dale Jr download was really good, check it out if you haven't.
Jerry Nadeau showed up an an SNYRA Reunion event a few years ago.. The SNYRA is the club his father raced with in Danbury, CT. He seemed upbeat and spoke for a few minutes. He recalled watching his father race and what an impression it made on him. He also mentioned that he still is numb on his left side.. I didn't speak with him but many other people did. I guess none of us really have an idea what he went through and what he is still dealing with.
Danbury CT. My grandad was never the sane when Jerry's dad died. I was young but remember his funeral. Seeing that name in my feed rly shook me up some. My grandad used to live in Danbury up till a few years ago. The nadues where family freinds I know realize from his days working at RCR building his portion of the engines Dale SR rip road to win after win. In his old age he done WKA Karting in the Danbury CT area ect. I can only wonder how good of freinds my grandad and Gerald where. RIP Gerald nadeu.in 2007 I was only 11 going on 12
Thanks for the video and info on him. I've watched Nascar for years and didn't realize what had happened to him afterwards.
I can most definitely relate being a Traumatic Brain Injury(TBI) survivor myself...
One of the worst crashes in NASCAR. Very scary moment.
I always like these videos you do. I'm glad I found your channel. I just wanted to let you know that and always look forward for the next video. One thing you do better than most channels is how you do such in depth research and cover just about or if not all of the details. I've watched Nascar ever since I was just a little kid. I'm 40yr now and think I know a lot on Nascar in those years, but your videos always get me or show things I somehow missed or never knew about. Well that's my 2cents, keep the good work up and thanks again for providing these videos. =)
I believe Sterling broke his neck at Kansas...
It was at kanas
It was originally injured at Richmond, and worsened in that Kansas crash
@@moarcast24He broke the vertebrae completely at Kansas. Think it caused compression in the Richmond crash.
Jerry we love you and Nascar fans everywhere will always respect and revere you sir. ❤️
The Sterling Marlin neck injury was actually at Kansas.
At Richmond he only had spasms to his shoulders & was sore.
Not entirely true. The wreck at Kansas is what got his doctors attention, but he had been driving with the injury prior to that.
@@DerrickRG91 please post a comment to the link of where this article is
Crazy, I watched the 2000 Atlanta race earlier tonight.
He admitted on the DJD that he REMOVED his left side head rest padding because it made it harder to look around
Great video...thank you so much....man love those old paint schemes.
Unfortunately, those were the days of no SAFER barriers
Last cup race without them at RIR too
I was never able to see Jerry race but I have looked back on his story. His story is sad but it shows that he is a fighter. Jerry is cool and I like to see a video about him
And for the record, he just didn’t enter the corner a little hot, he entered the corner wide open because his throttle stuck and he spun around and hit the wall with the driver’s side as solid as he possibly could. I was only about 30 yards from him when it happened and it sounded like a necular bomb going off. I have never heard anything that loud before and since then. The video doesn’t do it justice on exactly how hard he hit the wall that day. I knew then he’d probably never be in a race car again. Sad, because he was a good young man with his whole life in front of him.
Thanks for using my clip at 9:17
Keep up the good editing!
I remember listening somewhere he removed head padding to his seat before the crash
He was on the Dale Jr Download I think last year. It's a great listen
I was there when that happened. Me and my family were walking up the steps to our seats right where it happened maybe 30 yards from it at the most. It sounded like a bomb went off when he hit the wall. I’ve never heard anything before and after that loud. We knew then that he probably would never get in a race car again. Sad, because he was a good young man with his whole life in front of him.
We miss you Jerry. I wish you good luck and God Bless You.
Pontiac in Winston Cup. Time capsule
NASCAR does a terrible job of caring for their drivers after career ending injuries.
Famous guys like JR was worth hundreds of millions when he had to quit due to serious injuries.
Now a broadcaster and Podcaster.
But guys like Jerry gave his all before he had time to be a superstar he got injured. No fanfare. No broadcast career.
Really sad. I hope he succeeds in his future.
Damn. His wife leaving him is the most awful part of this story.
That last quote is really depressing. So sad.
I forgot about this!
Heartbreaking
Racing is a cruel sport...its amazing so many drivers have long careers without major injuries...I've been to Richmond for an indy car race which is so much faster than the heavy nascars...it is so surprising with all of that protection around them so many suffer difficult injuries.
So sad. 😢
I actually have a car signed by Nadeau as well a photo when I was younger.
@4:05 lol they used a wreck shot as a promo card?
😂😂😂
I saw this wreck months ago on the 2003 Pontiac Excitement 400 full race on the pre race segment on it. Sad couldn't race again after that..
And to think he was talented enough to have gone anywhere he wanted, open wheel, stock cars, sports cars. If things had panned out differently he'd have likely been in a top open wheel series instead of NASCAR. I've heard from people who saw him race that he was that talented, comparisons to the great open wheel drivers in junior formula were used, your senna, your Montoya level of talent, and we're talking raw speed and talent
He was competing and beating guys like Ayrton Senna
It sounds spectacular yes, until you read the list of who beat Senna in karting thoughh and how their careers panned out. Being from over here and knowing people who worked on Jerry's cars or with him, the thing that stands out is nobody had a bad word to say about this American coming over. From all I've heard he was understanding, wanted to learn but wasn't a pushover and wasn't your stereotypial loud obnoxious American, he made friends. We, at the time, had NASCAR coverage on Eurosport, which at the time showed live or as live coverage using the US feed so we got Bob, Ned and Benny and the ESPN or CBS coverage for Daytona. I do wonder if that influenced Jerry at all while he was over here having the ability to watch the Winston Cup guys from an ocean away though...
That is a hard crash.
Marlins injury was at Kansas
He was my second favorite driver. My favorite driver was mark Martin and I knew at some point I would need a different driver to cheer for. After it became apparent he would never return after his injury, I stopped watching the cup series altogether. My interest in the series died with Jerry’s accident. It’s interesting how MM fell into the drivers seat for MB2 a few years later, almost like someone was giving me a nudge in the back to give the cup series another watch.
So I’m not knocking your beautiful work, but for future reference. I think it’s important to separate the mechanism of injury like [Tony roper, Adam petty, Kenny Irwin, Dale Earnhardt, Blaise A., Scott baker, Neil bonnet, Rodney O. Or Ervin] who suffered Basilar skull fractures or in layman’s terms. O-Ring shaped FRACTURE at the base of the skull. Caused by the brain getting yanked into the skull via the spinal cord. With out a HANS device or head seatbelt
**JERRY CUT FOAM FROM HIS HEAD REST Which most likely caused the event***
A basilar skull fracture. The head will continue @speed, the torso is belted to the seat/car/cage. So the Car decels, The torso decels, but the head continues. Dale had a 36-42mph velocity loss in 1-2 milliseconds. So his brain impacted the base of his skull at 36-42mph. If you can imagine a 3lb object 90% water hitting you in the head at 42mph. You will understand the mechanism of injury. The spinal cord is tethered to the brain so it yanks it into the base of the skull, on severe crashes we’ve seen the spinal cord break like a rubber band and cause even more damage. Almost like a sling shot making a sonic boom. -- I had a serious crash in 1999 that nearly killed me so I was seat belting my head by 2000. - jerry had two 128g hits within 2milliseconds with a head and neck restraint. So the AAR we figured he had a skull fracture from shear energy Vs like other drivers killed who had a very specific injury or basilar skull fracture which is BASE OF SKULL FRACTURE CAUSE BY THE LACK OF HEAD & NECK RESTRAINTS. SO DIFFERENT MECHANISM OF INJURY FOR SURE.
I just watched this wreck yesterday:
You should do a video on Wacky Racing.
Is it just me, or do the nastiest crashes happen at Pocono?
I agree Pocono has some really bad career ending wrecks. However, it's hard to say it's the worst. I guess what always get's me is how these 1.5 mile track wrecks are so miss leading in that they don't look all that bad, but then you find out the driver was seriously injured in the wreck.
Michigan is a close 2ND. Ernie Irvin 2x
This didn’t happen at pocono, it was at Richmond
Elliot Sadler would agree
Ok never ever ever was this man going to get a seat in F1. But the fact that 15k got him into one of Jacksons old cup cars in a ARCA race is impressive ARCA im sure was trying to lure Jackson into the series and was probably teching the car very loosely. The top 5 at Watkins Glen is probably his biggest accomplishment other than the ATL win but im sure he would agree it didn't take much talent to win a cup race in a Hendrick car on a mile and a half. And by the way he talks i would hesitate getting into any type of car with this guy. At least he didnt pull a McClure now thats a sad story dude running wide open into the wall at Talladega simply bc he was mental
Racing is very cruel at times...
Look how full the stands are at arca races back then. Wtf happened 😢
His wife is evil, sorry don’t care what anyone says, immediately leaves because he was sick , that’s sick
she knew the money was over
Marlin’s neck broke at Kansas not Richmond
Jerry Nadeau was born in 1970
that's sad..the safer walls could of helped him , just to late.
Nice of the wife to stand by him🙄
Hiw wife left him? Why does that not surprise me. Sickness and health? She was just a gold digger
When the going gets tough, the wife gets going
Delete, if not allowed, there is a Jerry Nadu documentary done by other NASCAR you tube did
Why were all drivers looking like Greg Biffle in this era
THIS DIDNT HAPPENED
It did. Why would you say it didn't???
@@Mcseeker86 Dingles was just practicing his English and grammar.
Why can't you youngsters pronounce Didn't? It's not pronounced dittent!