Eric Medlen Critical After Funny Car Crash

[RegSpec]

From John Force website.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eric Medlen, 33, one of the bright young stars of the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, was injured Monday when his Funny Car crashed during a testing accident at Gainesville Raceway.

Medlen suffered undetermined injuries when the 8,000 horsepower hybrid he was driving crashed heavily into the rightside guardwall. He was transported via ShandsCair helicopter to Shands at the University of Florida medical center.

The six-time NHRA tour winner, who participated in Sunday’s 38th annual ACDelco Gatornationals, was being treated in the surgical intensive care unit at Shands. He was listed in critical condition while being further evaluated by medical personnel.

Medical staff will provide a condition update at midday on Tuesday according to John Force Racing sources who emphasized that, at the present time, Medlen is not permitted to have visitors, phone calls, cards or flowers.

“Eric’s extended family would like to thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers,” said Kelly Antonelli, spokesperson for JFR. “At the same time, we would ask that you respect the family’s privacy at this time and allow the medical staff to do its work.”

A former crewman on boss and teammate John Force’s championship-winning Funny Cars, Medlen began his own driving career in 2004, winning a race his first year. He won three more times in 2005 and two times last season in a Funny Car prepared by his father, John Medlen.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Funny Car driver Eric Medlen, injured in a testing accident Monday at Gainesville Raceway, remained in critical condition Tuesday in intensive care at Shands at the University of Florida medical center.

According to Medlen’s father, John, doctors are continuing to work to reduce pressure and swelling from what has been characterized as a severe closed head injury suffered when the 33-year-old’s car crashed heavily into the guardwall.

“We would ask everyone to keep Eric and his family in their prayers while at the same time respecting their need for privacy in this very difficult time,” said Kelly Antonelli, a spokesperson for John Force Racing, Inc.

“Obviously, our primary concern is for Eric’s health,” Antonelli said, “but we also are aware of erroneous information that has been posted on various internet sites and, unfortunately, that has been a source of additional pain for the family.

“To address that issue, we will continue to provide daily medical updates authorized by the family and the medical staff here at Shands.”

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MEDLEN HAS CRANIOTOMY; REMAINS IN CRITICAL CONDITION AT SHANDS

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Injured NHRA Funny Car driver Eric Medlen survived a delicate, three-hour craniotomy procedure to relive pressure and hemorrhaging Tuesday evening but remained in critical condition Wednesday at Shands at the University of Florida medical center.

Over the next two weeks, the 33-year-old will remain in a drug-induced coma designed to promote healing.

“We consider ourselves fortunate that Eric is in one of the top hospitals in the world for this type of injury and is getting absolutely the best treatment possible,” said John Medlen, Eric’s father and crew chief.

“We want to thank Eric’s friends, fans, sponsors and the entire NHRA drag racing community for their support in this very difficult time for our family,” he said. “We would ask that they continue to remember Eric in their prayers. He’s a fighter, but he has a long battle ahead of him.”

The elder Medlen also asked, for Eric’s sake and the sake of the family, that fans refrain from speculation, especially on the internet, where erroneous information already has been a source of considerable anguish.

[RegSpec]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Eric Medlen, 33, who had emerged as one of the most popular young drivers in the NHRA POWERade Drag Racing Series, succumbed Friday afternoon to injuries suffered when his race car crashed into a guardwall during a Monday test session at Gainesville Raceway.

The talented Funny Car driver never regained consciousness. After being treated at the track, he was transported by ShandsCair helicopter to Shands at the University of Florida medical center where medical staff treated him for four days for a severe closed head injury.

"Eric suffered from severe traumatic brain injury with diffuse axonal injury, or DAI," said Dr. Joseph Layon, Professor of Anesthesiology, Surgery and Medicine and the Chief of Critical Care Medicine at UF. Survival rates associated with DAI are low.

"On Tuesday, UF and Shands neurosurgery team performed a cranjectomy and removed the front portion of the skull to relieve pressure and attempt to improve blood flow to the brain," Dr. Layon explained. “Despite receiving the most aggressive treatment, Eric continued to have uncontrollable intracranial pressure. His body lost the ability to manage it’s salt and water levels and he began displaying the complicating factors associated with DAI.

"That is when Eric's family elected to honor Eric's wishes and remove him from the artificial life support systems. Our hearts go out to Eric's loved ones."

"On behalf of the family, I want to thank the medical staff at Shands not just for giving Eric the very best care he could have received, but for the compassion it showed for Eric and all those close to him” said his father, John Medlen. "I also want to thank the thousands of people who offered their prayers and support to us during this very difficult time."

As recently as Thursday night, more than 100 drivers and crew members representing every Indianapolis-based race team attended a prayer vigil organized by Kelly Bustos, team manager for Tuttle Motorsports, which fields Top Fuel dragsters for 2006 Rookie-of-the-Year J.R. Todd, one of Medlen’s closest friends in the sport.

At Louisville, Ky., where BP/Castrol had set up booth space for the Mid-America Trucking Show, fans and well-wishers filled up two giant posters with get well wishes Thursday. Moreover, more than 4,500 individual messages of support were left at a special e-mail address on the first day it was activated.

"Eric Medlen was the son I never had," said team owner John Force. "He was the leader of my next generation of drivers. Robert Hight, my daughter Ashley and I were with the family throughout this very difficult time. This loss is a huge blow not only to the Medlen family, but to drag racing and to John Force Racing. I just want to thank everybody for their support, from Larry Smiley with Racers for Christ to the hospital staff to the whole drag racing community. Our prayers go out to the family."

Little more than three years ago, Medlen took over driving responsibilities in the Funny Car in which Tony Pedregon won the 2003 championship. He had distinguished himself as one of the brightest young stars on the circuit, winning six times in his first three seasons and never finishing outside the Top 5 in driver points.

A graduate of Oakdale (Calif.) High School, where he was a high school rodeo champion in calf roping, Medlen trained under the watchful eye of two-time PRCA World Champion Jerold Camarillo and had contemplated a career in pro rodeo before his father called in 1996 to offer him a mechanic’s job at John Force Racing, Inc.

After spending one season on the team on which his father was crew chief, he moved over one pit stall in 1997 to work on the car driven by 14-time NHRA champion John Force. Serving first as the supercharger technician and later as a clutch specialist, he was a member of a team the crewed Force to 50 tour victories and six championships in seven seasons.

When Tony Pedregon left after the 2003 season to form his own team, Medlen was Force’s surprise pick to fill the seat, a move that re-united him with his father on the No. 2 team at JFR.

He was the sport's top Funny Car rookie in 2004, winning at Brainerd, Minn. He won three races in 2005 and two in 2006 including the race contested closest to his hometown – the FRAM/Autolite Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma, Calif.

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[Trough Lolly]

not good..... RIP