Ricky Craven doesn’t want to offer advice to Dale Earnhardt Jr. on how to handle his recovery from concussion-like symptoms. He does, however, bring a wealth of experience and insight to the topic.
Speaking on a Dale Earnhardt Jr. podcast earlier this week, Craven delved into his own personal history with concussions. While driving for Hendrick Motorsports in the late 1990s, he was involved in a series of crashes and then, in 1998, he was diagnosed with post-concussion syndrome and missed three months of racing.
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Craven recently wrote about his experiences for ESPN, for whom he is now a commentator, after it was announced that Earnhardt would miss last Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway while suffering from concussion-like symptoms. Alex Bowman drove Earnhardt's No. 88 Chevrolet in the race.
Earnhardt also spoke briefly on the podcast, saying that his symptoms involved balance and nausea. No timetable for his return has been announced. Hendrick Motorsports previously said that if Earnhardt is unable to race this weekend at Indianapolis, then five-time Brickyard 400 winner Jeff Gordon will return to racing to drive the No. 88.
Craven is cautious, pointing out that he doesn’t want to offer advice to Earnhardt. However, his insight should be invaluable to anyone dealing with concussions or concussion-like symptoms.
He said his journey with concussion symptoms began in 1997, after crashes in three races.
“Those three weeks where I had concussions, in succession, those led to the challenges I had,” he said. “On the surface, it seems like I was only out for a few weeks. I had a broken scapula; I had bruised ribs and black eyes. The problem is, with this injury, there’s a residual effect that I don’t think we still completely understand and my recovery took much, much longer and it effected even my 1998 season more, so that’s part of what compels me to Dale Jr.’s circumstance. But it’s not something that I’m an expert in, it’s just something that, unfortunately, I have experienced.”
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Craven revealed that he had concerns beyond his health during that time.
There was so much pressure on drivers in the Cup series — and he was driving for a high-profile team with a shot to win. He had opened the season with a pair of top-five finishes and had a worst finish of 14th in the opening trio of races.
And then the crashes came.
“At first, I don’t know if you diagnose yourself,” he said. “I think the insecurities of being a racecar driver, and there are so few opportunities and you’ve worked your whole life to get to that position, so you dismiss a lot of things or you run from them. And then, even if you were to seek help, which I did in 1998 following the Atlanta race, even when you seek help, you learn that dealing with and studying the brain is still somewhat primitive because you can’t put your injury in a cast. You can’t be given an antibiotic and say, ‘look, take all these and when the bottle is empty you will should feel better.’ So it’s very frustrating, it can be agonizing.”
Craven said he views Earnhardt’s situation personally, not professionally. He said he’s always admired Earnhardt for how he’s handled things.
“He just seems always to be so forthright and to speak honestly," Craven said.
He applauds Earnhardt for having the courage to step aside from racing while he recovers. Now, he knows the pressures that any driver in that situation faces as he weighs when to come back.
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As he points out, no one really understands what it’s like to be Earnhardt. He’s NASCAR’s fan-voted most popular driver. He’s fighting to return to the Chase for the Sprint Cup but does not have a win this season that would lock him into the playoff field. He’s arguably the sport’s most high-profile driver.
Now he’s stepped out of his car in order to give his body time to heal. Earnhardt said on his portion of the podcast that he would listen to his doctors and follow their advice. It may be a decision that sounds easier than it is to those not involved or directly impacted, especially to those not living a career as a professional athlete.
“It takes a lot of courage to raise your hand and say, ‘I’m stepping aside’ because the average person has no idea the responsibility associated with being Dale Earnhardt Jr. …,” Craven said. “The average person might actually get, certainly gets more privacy and might be given a greater opportunity to deal with injuries than a Dale Earnhardt Jr. does because the average person doesn’t get pulled in a hundred directions and doesn’t have the pressure associated with, 'I don’t want to let people down’ or whatever else might be going on.”
It's hard to watch someone else drive one's car.
And not necessarily for the reasons some might think.
“It’s more personal than it is professional," Craven said. "Most people would say, well if he’s running well it might hurt you and if he’s running poorly you might feel bad for him. Really, how good or bad he’s running doesn’t weigh in as much as that’s the group of people that I travel with every week. I am connected to them every day of my life. That’s my car.”
But thinking of that, Craven said, can interfere with the ability to make "clear, concise" decisions. It's just another piece of what a driver who has stepped out of his car faces while recovering from an injury.
Craven says that, in hindsight, he didn't take enough time to heal.
“I’m not proud of that and I wouldn’t have admitted that at the time because I was insecure,” he said. “But I obviously didn’t. But I couldn’t wait to get back; it killed me to have somebody in my racecar.”
He says that when he did return it seemed things were going well, but in reality “things weren’t perfect. My season was very volatile.” And every crash was actually making his situation worse.
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In his story on ESPN, Craven said that Earnhardt needs to be his own advocate, that only he would know when it is time to return. Craven reiterated that on the podcast.
Driving for team owner Rick Hendrick could also be an aid to the driver. But in the end, Earnhardt is his own greatest asset.
“I don’t think that Dale Earnhardt Jr. could have a greater advocate for his health, as a team owner, than Rick Hendrick,” Craven said. “Rick battled leukemia, he understands all those things that come with an illness and — there’s no question that he has great people around him and great support. If you were to ask me who could be the greatest counterbalance to Dale Junior as far as just weighing things and understanding what he’s going through and playing devil’s advocate, I’d say that Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s greatest resource is the man in the mirror.
“He’s smart, he’s been through a lot, he understands the risks and I just think if he can take the time to look at himself and not cheat himself, this will all make sense.”
In the end, Craven’s greatest message, seemingly the greatest lesson he learned from his own circumstances, was just that it takes time to heal with any kind of concussion or concussion-like symptoms.
While he didn’t offer advice to Earnhardt, he did point out that everyone needs to give the driver time and space to heal.
“The difficult thing for me in this is just to not give advice,” Craven said. “I want to, I have to stop myself because nobody is equipped to tell Dale Earnhardt Jr. how to handle this. The only person, really, is Dale Earnhardt Jr. and to that end I just hope everyone gives him the space and the time to make good decisions. ... The guy deserves the space and the time and the latitude to be his own advocate and make decisions based on what he feels and what he knows.”