Page 22 - ARUBA TODAY

A22 SPORTS
Saturday 10 december 2016
Earnhardt says health top priority as he prepares for return

BY JENNA FRYER cerned only with the driver
AP AUTO RACING WRITER getting healthy.
CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- It Although Earnhardt will test
took less than four laps for again before the season
Dale Earnhardt Jr. to feel begins at Phoenix - and
back at home in his race he’s got a wedding to his
car. His test this week at longtime girlfriend on Dec.
Darlington Raceway was 31 - he won’t actually race
the final hurdle for NAS- until the events leading into
CAR’s most popular driver February’s season-opening
to earn clearance to com- Daytona 500. He will skip
pete next season. the exhibition race that
The test ended months of kicks off Speedweeks at
speculation - should Earn- Daytona, not as a health
hardt retire? Was the risk precaution, he said, but
of suffering yet another because Bowman earned
concussion too great? - the right to race the car by
and a detailed medical winning the pole at Phoe-
plan helped get him back nix in November.
on the track when many “It’s owed to Alex,” Earn-
thought he should just step hardt said.
away for good. Earnhardt has worked
“When you get some- closely the last few years
thing taken away from with Dr. Micky Collins from
you, you certainly realize the University of Pittsburgh
what it’s worth,” Earnhardt Medical Center Sports
said Friday. “I’m feeling re- Dale Earnhardt Jr., second from left, chats with his crew in the garage during NASCAR Sprint Cup Medicine Concussion Pro-
charged and energized auto racing practice at Daytona International Speedway, Thursday, June 30, 2016, in Daytona gram. It’s been Collins who
about coming back ready Beach, Fla. first got Earnhardt healthy,
to race. I’ve got a lot left in then helped him get back
the tank.” I feel confident in what my track considered one of speed - and he felt ready into competitive condition.
And he wants to make doctors are telling me ... in the most demanding in to race. Collins has deemed Earn-
something perfectly clear: me being able to withstand NASCAR. “Felt like an old shoe by the hardt healthy and ready to
Earnhardt would not be the normal wear and tear He admitted to a sleepless end of the day,” he said. “I go, but Earnhardt will con-
climbing back into the No. and getting into that unfor- night before the test, and felt really, really confident tinue to work on many of
88 Chevrolet if his doctors tunate accident from time an anxiousness to get inside that by the end of the day, the exercises he’s received
had not assured him that to time.” his beloved Chevrolet the I was 100 percent ready to from the doctor for the sake
he’s healthy and his past Earnhardt’s lengthy history moment his feet touched get back in the car.” of strengthening himself.
concussion history hasn’t with concussions flared the ground at Darlington. His clearance came as a “This is from my doctor’s
put him at a heightened again this year after a With neurosurgeon Dr. Jerry boost to Hendrick Motor- mouth - I had to work really
risk of permanent injury. crash at Michigan in June. Petty on site, the Hendrick sports, which is already hard to be a human being
“I have a personal respon- He missed the final 18 races Motorsports team eased riding high after Jimmie again, to be normal again.
sibility to myself. My health of the season and spent into the session. Johnson’s record-tying sev- The distance between just
is number one. I am not go- that time in intensive ther- Earnhardt started with 15- enth championship. Hen- being myself and just being
ing to take any unneces- apy meant to first help him lap runs, then climbed from drick made it through the a race car driver, that was
sary risks with my health,” control vision, balance and the car to be assessed by second half of the season going to be another hand-
he said. “I wouldn’t be nausea. That lengthy pro- Petty. As the day went on, with a combination lineup ful of exercises,” he said.
coming back to the seat cess completed, his doc- his vision and balance were of Jeff Gordon and Alex “His advice was if I wanted
and being excited to drive tors focused on getting him not only checking out fine, Bowman, and he insisted to continue the exercises,
if there was any additional ready to drive a car again, but improving after every the sponsors who pay mil- it would only continue to
risk, other than the typical and it happened Wednes- run. Soon he was up to 30 lions of dollars for Earnhardt strengthen the system. Hell,
risk that every driver faces. day at the South Carolina laps at a time, he felt up to to be in the car were con- maybe this is something I

Continued from page 17 his chin and that reaction want to come out of a will participate in the 2018 Gretzky, who played in
was enough for the NHL’s game,” Bettman said. “We Olympics in South Korea, the 1998 Games and built
concussion spotter to call think being cautious, hav- one day after saying own- the team that won gold.
“’’Is everybody perfectly for him to be taken off. ing protocols and enforc- ers are “negative” about “I happen to love every-
happy when the best play- NHL Commissioner Gary ing them is the best way to going because of con- thing about the Olympic
er gets pulled off? No. But Bettman said the spotter ensure it. cerns about expenses. Games.”
it’s protocol, that’s what protocol has been dis- Does that mean some “I think after doing five of Notes: Mark Chipman of
the rules are and you’ve cussed by the board and players are going to get these, I don’t know, fa- the Winnipeg Jets and
got to live with it.” will be again in the next pulled who didn’t have tigue might be a word (to Geoff Molson of the Mon-
Oilers star Connor McDa- couple of months. concussions? Sure. describe it),” treal Canadiens were vot-
vid recently took issue with “The reason you have the But it also means we’re go- Bettman said of the own- ed to the NHL’s executive
being pulled off the ice spotter program is exact- ing to make sure the play- ers’ reaction. committee, replacing the
after he tripped over Min- ly for the instances that ers who need to be off the For his part, Gretzky said late Ed Snider of the Phila-
nesota Wild forward Jar- people are talking about, ice are off the ice.” he hoped the league ulti- delphia Flyers and Peter
ed Spurgeon’s stick and because players typically, Bettman also said there mately chose to attend. Karmanos of the Carolina
hit his chin on the ice. He and you go back through was nothing new to report “I’m a big believer in the Hurricanes.q
reached up and grabbed the history of this, don’t on whether NHL players Olympic Games,” said