As of 2014, NASCAR racing was the most popular spectator sport in America and, some even say, the world. These drivers face constant danger – a fact that the sport’s safety policy makers address with special racing suits, carbon fire seating, reinforced roll cages (special interior frames that help prevent injury) and, also as of 2014 —mandatory ImPACT baseline testing for all drivers.
The only FDA-cleared concussion assessment tool for ages 5-59, ImPACT helps healthcare providers like me and other Mac Alliance members evaluate and manage concussions. Online tests results obtained post-concussion are compared to original baseline test results to help assess next steps for the individual or athlete in terms of rest, exercise, and assistance in determining that all-important “return to competition” timing.
NASCAR understands that a comprehensive concussion program includes neurological testing to help assess their drivers’ verbal and visual memory and information processing speed—while they’re healthy. Doctors then, in case of possible concussion, have a baseline test with which to compare new testing results to help evaluate the injury.
After racer Dale Earnhardt Jr. experienced concussion symptoms in 2012, he met with specialists at Pittsburgh’s UPMC Center for Sports Medicine, (developers of ImPACT testing). Earnhardt is so keen on helping doctors research concussions that he plans on donating his brain for research to hopefully help fight brain injury, especially in athletes.
In an interview with writer Scott Fowler for the Charlotte Observer in March, Earnhardt is quoted as saying “Even though they (doctors) have learned a lot, there’s just so much they don’t know.”
We’re thrilled that NASCAR takes concussion so seriously. They understand how multiple blows to the head can cause mood problems or, worse, chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative disease of the brain that results from repeated brain trauma.
As another writer for the Los Angeles Times, George Diaz, noted, “This is very serious business. It’s good to see prominent athletes like Earnhardt stepping up and acknowledging there is a problem, and it’s going to take greater minds to fix it.”
