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Driver shows some improvement

Sunday, May 04, 2003

By Hank Kurz Jr., The Associated Press

RICHMOND, Va. -- Jerry Nadeau was in intensive care with head, lung and rib injuries from a crash in Winston Cup practice, and his vital signs are "very good," team general manager Jay Frye said yesterday.

Nadeau, 32, remained in critical condition a day after the crash at Richmond International Raceway. He has not spoken since the accident, Frye said, but has been communicating with visitors despite being sedated.

"He was aware that I was there," said Frye, who has seen Nadeau three times since the accident in practice Friday afternoon. Frye said Nadeau acknowledged his presence by squeezing Frye's hand.

Nadeau continues to have a series of tests, Frye said, but he could not specify what those tests were or what they have shown to this point. He also could not say whether Nadeau was breathing on his own again, but said each time he's seen Nadeau, he looked better than the last time.

"We're very encouraged," he said. "We'll know so much more tonight or tomorrow morning" after more testing has been completed and studied.

"We feel like he's in great, great care," Frye said.

Nadeau had a partially collapsed left lung and rib injuries, although Frye said "we don't know how many or which ones."

He was injured during the final practice for last night's Pontiac Excitement 400 when his car skidded entering the first turn, spun and slammed into the wall between the first and second turns.

Rescue crews sawed the roof off his Pontiac, and Nadeau, from Danbury, Conn., did not appear to be moving when he was lifted from the car strapped to a body board. He was being given oxygen through a bag, and his neck was in a brace. His uniform appeared to have been removed when he was loaded a short time later onto a helicopter and taken to Medical College of Virginia Hospitals.