I've been wanting to do something for a couple of years now and I believe the time is here.
I have been wanting to start a head trauma helpline. A place for head injury sufferers to reach out to so they know that they arnt alone while trying to recover.
I feel that myself and my wife could be a help to some in need. If you suffer a head injury and don't have the right support or at least a way to get pointed in the right direction you are literally in a dark hole.
DO NOT think that your medical system or county assistance will get you thru.
My wife is a nurse of 38 years and without her help there is no way I'd be here today, not so much the medical stuff but all the hoops and ******** you have to go thru to help yourself. Help yourself regain control of your life, who to call, who's buttons to push.
My expertise comes thru getting myself a pretty good dinger. A crash resulted in a fractured neck and severe closed head injury. I was life flighted and spent the next couple/few years in a fog or worse. If I didn't have the expertise of my wifes experiences I would have been royally screwed.
Now I was extremely lucky to be married to who I am, my accident came 6 months after we met. She took the best care of me and my two young kids anybody possibly could. Actually as a little side note at the time of my injury I had just gotten hold of a 410 engine and was on my way to furfilling my life dream of running a 410 nonwing car. All that was gone along with my business so I was pretty bummed. One day a trailer pulls up in front of the house and out rolls the ugliest minisprint you ever seen. She bought it without me knowing so I could rebuild it for therepy.
I felt better the moment I tossed the wings in the trash.
Anyhow I'm pretty good now except for some short term memory issues and I'd love to help someone, anyone whom might need it. Now days with the interweb a lot can be done, for no expense. We wouldn't want a penny from anyone.
So anyhow that's what I'm working on, if you know of anyone who might like advice or would like to pick whats left of my mind you could pm me or email at guildorf9@yahoo.com
eventually I would like to make this a bit more formal.
Bob Bruzek
Speedway #9

Back

Guess you might just be the same old Bob that used to fight with me all the time on IOW. Sound like a great idea to me. I have a friend that got some pretty bad head trauma racing TQ"s a long time ago and it has been a battle for him.


Honest Dad himself

Good for you man. Hopefully someone that needs help reads this post and takes you up on the offer.

You bring up an interesting point..........I recently watched the movie "Concussion" with Will Smith. There were some interesting things brought to light by the movie. Even if some things are glorified a little bit by Hollywood, still some good insight. There is something behind all of the recent retirements by young successful football players.

With the sue happy world that we live in these days, I am quite surprised that we have not seen some sort of lawsuit against sanctioning bodies for the long term effects of head injuries. Using the NFL settlement with former players as a guide, I have been a little surprised that it hasn't carried over to other sports, specifically auto racing.

I remember one time specifically, I took a pretty good digger down the back straightaway at Sun Prairie, WI. Full song, end over, barrel rolls, the whole 9 yards (probably more than 9 yards). Anyways, when it all ended, I couldn't get out of the car fast enough. Switch off, fuel off, steering wheel off, belts off......get the heck out of this wild ride. Stood up pretty quick, all of the blood goes away from your head, feeling dizzy, vision blurred or foggy..............here come the "medical professionals" to check me out. They put me in the crash wagon, sit me down and start working. One of them is taking my vitals, the other one starts to ask me questions. They guy asking me questions is someone that I have never met before. He isn't holding my drivers license and starts asking me personal questions (for his medical forms and to assess conscientiousness I guess). Address, date of birth, phone number.........about the second question, it hits me that he doesn't have a clue if my answers are correct or not. He keeps going on and about question #5, I took the ice pack off my eyes/forehead, looked up at him and I said, "you don't know the f*^king answers to these questions anyways!" The other guy gets done taking my vitals and tells me that everything checks out, but my blood pressure is a "little high." Let's see here, I just destroyed a brand new race car, prior to that I was circling an oval constantly at 90ish MPH for 5 minutes or so, plus the G forces from the tumble, plus the annoyance of questions to get my personal information for your billing forms. Yeah, I think my blood pressure may be up just a tick (although I didn't actually say that).

My point to all of that rambling is this, that was the first time that it hit me just how unqualified most of the "medical professionals" are at most of the racetracks that we visit on a weekly basis. In the days and weeks following any accident, I never had one sanctioning body check up on me. Even when we raced the next night or several nights in a row. They don't require anything from you to get back into a race car. When you are racing for a living, to pay your bills, sometimes being cautionary is not even in the equation.

Young kids, teenagers - early 20's, everyone is trying to make a name for themselves. Trying to win races and Championships. Trying to get to the next level or trying to get a better ride. You don't get there by sitting half a season out and "clearing your head." USAC, POWRi, and many of the others don't require you to. I know when I was younger, I had more faith in the medical staff that they paid to be at the races. As I grew older, I realized that they were just checking a box that required them to have someone (often just an EMT) on site. I am certainly not knocking EMT's, but often times, they were unfamiliar with our type of race car and how to extract someone from it. They definitely didn't know us well enough personally to "field check" us for normality. (Sidebar: Do most race fans know that the long delays after bad crashes generally stem from the fact that the EMT's on site are not "transport" EMT's, meaning they cannot actually take the driver to the hospital if it is needed. A different ambulance has to come to the property and transfer the injured driver). Some tracks have transport EMT's and then have to wait for anther ambulance to arrive to resume racing, but those tracks are the minority based on my experience.

Years later, when the memory isn't as sharp or headaches come on for no apparent reason, you begin to realize that it might not have been the best idea to climb right back into the seat. But it is way to long ago to go back and do anything about it. At the bare minimum, I would like to think the more reputable sanctioning bodies could require some sort of baseline testing at the beginning of every year. (Hell, they don't even REQUIRE a physical and drug test to be on file, even though some of them have it in their rule books). Then require drivers to be checked out and signed off by a Dr. after decent tumbles or high speed impacts.

My youngest girl is dealing with the results of "one too many bumps to the head", caused by wresting. It is down right scary how much this has affected her, and what she has to do now to get back on track. I would have never believed this if I didn't see it for myself. This is not something to mess around with.

Almost everyone at the races has no clue about "medical professionals." They see a vehicle at the track that looks like an ambulance, and assume it is one, and that the people staffing that "ambulance" are adequately trained and equipped. They are wrong. There are zero dirt tracks (in Michigan) that are adequately staffed regarding safety. The ones that make the best effort are the ones that will contract with the local Advanced Life Support ambulance service to have Paramedics and a licensed ALS truck there. They have adequate training and equipment. But, ask one of them about methanol, head and neck restraint devices, safety belts, arm restraints, helmets (and removal), and on and on. They look up from their phones and say "What?" Some tracks try their best and do their best with what they have, and kudos to them, but day in and day out, you better not expect much from the "medical professionals." All you are getting is disappointment. This topic was my number one concern when I started racing, and still is today. I support the mission that this thread is about.