Where Is...…
Jerry Nadeau
By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COM
There is no preamble for Jerry Nadeau.
Most would tend to ease into the subject of a career-ending injury. Not Nadeau. The accident at Richmond on May 2, 2003, nearly ended his life, and he would never again drive another Cup race. Ask him what he's up to these days, and there is no pretension.
The things he went through were tough to handle, so why beat around the bush?
"It's been a life-changing situation with everything that's gone on the last four and a half years," Nadeau said. "Obviously, my life was racing. It took a U-turn. It doesn't really look good for me coming back to racing. It's been tough. I've raced since I was 4 years old. Then, all of a sudden, it just stopped. It just gave me a whole new perspective on life."
Life has not been perfect for Nadeau since his accident. He is now divorced. A comeback that he was planning -- nothing huge, just a couple of ARCA starts here and there, at least to begin with -- was derailed earlier this year by the sudden passing of his father, Gerard.
Nadeau was in Florida for a test in a road-racing entry when he got the kind of call that changes lives. A biopsy had revealed that Gerard had anaplastic thyroid cancer, a particularly aggressive and rare form of cancer of the thyroid gland. According to the Thyroid Cancer Survivor's Association, few other cancers spread as quickly.
That, and only about 300 new cases are diagnosed in the United States. Gerard Nadeau was one of those few. Two months after the diagnosis, on March 19, he died.
"That's been the hardest thing that's hit me," Nadeau said. "Racing, I'm not worried about. Everything is about life. Dad has done so much for me. He put me in a go-kart when I was 4 years old. He took me every weekend to a race. That's been the toughest part."
There have been times when Nadeau dwelled on his accident. More than four years later, he can't quite put the whole day together. The memories come in bits and pieces, but the whole day? No. Not yet, at least. He remembers having his bowl of oatmeal and toast. He remembers the first practice, qualifying and maybe a lap or two of Happy Hour.
He does not remember the spin, in which he struck the wall between Turns 1 and 2 on the driver's side. It was a hard lick, but nothing those that saw it would ever have thought would lead to the consequences that it did for Nadeau. For an agonizing 20 minutes, safety workers cut Nadeau out of his Pontiac.
Flown by helicopter to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the driver was placed on a ventilator and listed in critical condition with a severe head injury. He had other injuries, such as a collapsed lung, fractured left shoulder blade and rib injuries, but those can be fixed with relative ease. Not the head injury. To this day, the blow has left Nadeau with a lingering numbness throughout his entire left side.
"I spun and hit the wall perfect ... it was like the perfect storm," Nadeau said. "It just hit so perfect. It was a lot of Gs. It's like when you see the Dale Earnhardt wreck. It doesn't look that bad. Mine didn't look that bad, either. But sometimes the worst accidents are the accidents that don't look bad. Mine was one of those."
Nadeau's recovery progressed slowly, but surely. Eight months after the accident, he tested a Cup car at Concord Motorsport Park in North Carolina. Hard to accept though it was, Nadeau knew he wasn't where he needed to be. Not to go back racing.
"The test went well, but I didn't feel well," Nadeau said. "I knew that in the test. ... My stamina wasn't as good as it used to be. The thinking wasn't as good as it used to be. I don't feel like it's something I need to take a chance on. What happens if I bump the wall? You never think of the worst, but it's in the back of your head."
Go-karts gave Nadeau his start in racing, and he's since returned to them. He's raced at Le Mans and he's hoping to open a go-kart facility in the near future if everything comes together. Nadeau has also at various times served as a consultant with drivers Boston Reid and David Gilliland.
Whatever he's doing, Nadeau is staying as busy as he can possibly stay. He has to.
"I'm still me ... I'm still myself," Nadeau said. "I'm not a fat roly-poly in the house, not doing nothing and living off the fat of the land. I can't do that, No. 1, because I didn't race long enough and put away enough money where I can just live happily ever after. ... I'm just trying to put myself in a position where I can make money and still be happy and have fun."
For all the hardship Nadeau has endured, his daughter Natalie means the world to him. Born less than three months before the accident, she was brought into his hospital room. When asked if he knew who she was, unable to speak, Nadeau wrote her name on a piece of paper.
"She is my life," Nadeau said. "Kids are amazing. It's the greatest thing in the world. I love my daughter to death. It's a blessing."
In the end, Nadeau has no plans to race again. That's not to say he won't. He just has no plans right now to do so at the moment. Could he run the full Cup schedule? No. Definitely not. But is there a chance he could he make a spot start? Maybe.
"I've never said that I've totally got out of NASCAR ... that I've totally got out of racing," Nadeau concluded. "As of right now, I'm taking some time off. I'm trying to organize my life a little better and hope that this new business I'm looking into takes off.
"I'm not saying I'm going to ride around and make a few bucks. I don't know. I just turned 38 years old. I'm still young and I still feel like I've got fire in me."
Jerry Nadeau
By Rick Houston, Special to NASCAR.COM
There is no preamble for Jerry Nadeau.
Most would tend to ease into the subject of a career-ending injury. Not Nadeau. The accident at Richmond on May 2, 2003, nearly ended his life, and he would never again drive another Cup race. Ask him what he's up to these days, and there is no pretension.
The things he went through were tough to handle, so why beat around the bush?
"It's been a life-changing situation with everything that's gone on the last four and a half years," Nadeau said. "Obviously, my life was racing. It took a U-turn. It doesn't really look good for me coming back to racing. It's been tough. I've raced since I was 4 years old. Then, all of a sudden, it just stopped. It just gave me a whole new perspective on life."
Life has not been perfect for Nadeau since his accident. He is now divorced. A comeback that he was planning -- nothing huge, just a couple of ARCA starts here and there, at least to begin with -- was derailed earlier this year by the sudden passing of his father, Gerard.
Nadeau was in Florida for a test in a road-racing entry when he got the kind of call that changes lives. A biopsy had revealed that Gerard had anaplastic thyroid cancer, a particularly aggressive and rare form of cancer of the thyroid gland. According to the Thyroid Cancer Survivor's Association, few other cancers spread as quickly.
That, and only about 300 new cases are diagnosed in the United States. Gerard Nadeau was one of those few. Two months after the diagnosis, on March 19, he died.
"That's been the hardest thing that's hit me," Nadeau said. "Racing, I'm not worried about. Everything is about life. Dad has done so much for me. He put me in a go-kart when I was 4 years old. He took me every weekend to a race. That's been the toughest part."
There have been times when Nadeau dwelled on his accident. More than four years later, he can't quite put the whole day together. The memories come in bits and pieces, but the whole day? No. Not yet, at least. He remembers having his bowl of oatmeal and toast. He remembers the first practice, qualifying and maybe a lap or two of Happy Hour.
He does not remember the spin, in which he struck the wall between Turns 1 and 2 on the driver's side. It was a hard lick, but nothing those that saw it would ever have thought would lead to the consequences that it did for Nadeau. For an agonizing 20 minutes, safety workers cut Nadeau out of his Pontiac.
Flown by helicopter to Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center, the driver was placed on a ventilator and listed in critical condition with a severe head injury. He had other injuries, such as a collapsed lung, fractured left shoulder blade and rib injuries, but those can be fixed with relative ease. Not the head injury. To this day, the blow has left Nadeau with a lingering numbness throughout his entire left side.
"I spun and hit the wall perfect ... it was like the perfect storm," Nadeau said. "It just hit so perfect. It was a lot of Gs. It's like when you see the Dale Earnhardt wreck. It doesn't look that bad. Mine didn't look that bad, either. But sometimes the worst accidents are the accidents that don't look bad. Mine was one of those."
Nadeau's recovery progressed slowly, but surely. Eight months after the accident, he tested a Cup car at Concord Motorsport Park in North Carolina. Hard to accept though it was, Nadeau knew he wasn't where he needed to be. Not to go back racing.
"The test went well, but I didn't feel well," Nadeau said. "I knew that in the test. ... My stamina wasn't as good as it used to be. The thinking wasn't as good as it used to be. I don't feel like it's something I need to take a chance on. What happens if I bump the wall? You never think of the worst, but it's in the back of your head."
Go-karts gave Nadeau his start in racing, and he's since returned to them. He's raced at Le Mans and he's hoping to open a go-kart facility in the near future if everything comes together. Nadeau has also at various times served as a consultant with drivers Boston Reid and David Gilliland.
Whatever he's doing, Nadeau is staying as busy as he can possibly stay. He has to.
"I'm still me ... I'm still myself," Nadeau said. "I'm not a fat roly-poly in the house, not doing nothing and living off the fat of the land. I can't do that, No. 1, because I didn't race long enough and put away enough money where I can just live happily ever after. ... I'm just trying to put myself in a position where I can make money and still be happy and have fun."
For all the hardship Nadeau has endured, his daughter Natalie means the world to him. Born less than three months before the accident, she was brought into his hospital room. When asked if he knew who she was, unable to speak, Nadeau wrote her name on a piece of paper.
"She is my life," Nadeau said. "Kids are amazing. It's the greatest thing in the world. I love my daughter to death. It's a blessing."
In the end, Nadeau has no plans to race again. That's not to say he won't. He just has no plans right now to do so at the moment. Could he run the full Cup schedule? No. Definitely not. But is there a chance he could he make a spot start? Maybe.
"I've never said that I've totally got out of NASCAR ... that I've totally got out of racing," Nadeau concluded. "As of right now, I'm taking some time off. I'm trying to organize my life a little better and hope that this new business I'm looking into takes off.
"I'm not saying I'm going to ride around and make a few bucks. I don't know. I just turned 38 years old. I'm still young and I still feel like I've got fire in me."
