TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Eric McClure — Notes & Quotes Road America – June 22, 2012
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports What is it like to be back in the car? “It’s good. I wasn’t sure how to approach the weekend. It’s different for me — it’s different than an off-season type of thing. There’s obviously been a lot of challenges so to come into this week, I wasn’t sure what I’d feel, I wasn’t sure how anything would go. It’s been everything I’d hoped it would be.”
What is the process you have had to go through to get approved by NASCAR? “The medical people that NASCAR — the people that are in contact with them, we go to people they recommend for injuries like that. Just to follow what they say, to do the things necessary to heal in the way that they feel is acceptable to return and be healthy on top of that. Just go to the doctor every week, listen to him — he examines you, puts you through some things and when he deems that you’re ready, he releases you back to NASCAR.”
Did you feel like you were ready to return before this weekend? “I’ve had a wide range of emotions. Obviously, sitting back in that situation — you have a lot of life conversations with yourself as well as racing conversations. The first two or three weeks, definitely concerned with the race team and watching them and Jeff (Green). They felt I needed to stay away from the track to accelerate the healing process. Definitely, as far as the racing goes, I got to the point I wanted to come back as soon as they would let me. I couldn’t think of a better place to come back than Road America. I think it fits what I’m trying to do. Definitely make me want to enjoy it a little bit more.”
Why did you choose to return at Road America? “It’s such a competitive sport, a pressure sport — you go to these mile-and-a-half tracks, the fast tracks and you’re always out around somebody, you’re always worried about what somebody else is doing — what their car is doing, what the air is doing. Here, you come to a place we don’t come to a lot and for a guy like me, it’s a place where you know the car is going to be better than you so you’re out there by yourself in practice, you’re getting comfortable and you’re worried about what you’re doing. To me, just to make sure I was comfortable, I felt like it was the best place. As far as racing, it’s no different once the race starts. For me, I have a tendency to talk myself in and out of a lot of things. To come back at a place like this where I can just be by myself on the track for the first session probably did me more good than it did anybody else.”
Did you ever consider not returning to the race car? “Absolutely. For me, I’ve always said this isn’t the most important thing in my life — not because I’m not the most competitive guy, but I’m 33 years old, I have a family and I really enjoy time with them. Naturally, it’s this time in my life, not just because of the accident that I’m thinking, ‘What’s next?’ Not necessarily not coming back, but certainly plans and ideas about the next phase of my life and how to transition into that certainly came to mind. I enjoyed watching Jeff (Green) race the car. It’s certainly hard to see your name on it and not be in it. At the same time, he brought a lot to the team that I think is going to help me. In the meantime, we’ll come back and do the best we can and try to enjoy it more. Not get so caught up in what most people define as successful.”
How was the first practice session? “It felt great — it was everything I hoped it would be. Actually ran a pretty competitive speed and then got off course and came in. That was kind of scary right there — on the one place where there’s concrete on both sides, I ran off course. Just a couple laps to get up to speed and then we were right there with everybody we should be racing with. It felt good — that is a big relief for me because I wasn’t sure what it would feel like or what I would feel like or if I was emotionally prepared to do it as I thought I was. It was really good so I feel relaxed now and I’m ready for the weekend.”
Can you further explain getting medically-cleared by NASCAR to race again? “It’s a really thorough process and a good process. Obviously, I saw Dr. Petty who is called the best in this for a reason. Just set forth a lot of examinations, a lot of discussion about the injuries and the time frames that they have. It was weekly visits. Once he felt that medically I was okay to return, then he reported that to NASCAR and I was cleared to come back. It’s a long process with the concussion — that being my third, there is not really a set timetable for those things and that’s been the challenging thing — that’s what kept me from coming back was the lingering symptoms. I really felt a couple weeks ago after the first two weeks of being away from the track and having total brain rest that I was ready, but he felt like we needed to wait and I respect that opinion. I think that will probably not necessarily pay dividends now, but it will 10 years from now. I’m really glad NASCAR — a lot of people just see they’re worried about the races and cautions and stuff, but they don’t see how proactive NASCAR is behind the scenes on driver safety, team safety equipment — I was one of those and I’m really, really thankful that they do that.”
ERIC MCCLURE, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports (continued) Have you studied the NFL findings on concussions following your experience? “Not really. Obviously, that’s dominating the news now and I appreciate the sensitivity to it for sure — I love the NFL. I probably love it more than anyone and I study it and feel like I know everything about it, but I don’t. I’ve always seen the NASCAR situation as apples to oranges to that because it’s a different type of environment. It’s controlled, just like the NFL. Never really thought about it because you don’t really hear a lot about concussions in this or injuries internal or anything. I think what happened to me was a freak deal and at the same time because of NASCAR and what they do, they kept it to where I was still here. In the NFL, it’s really hard to police that sport and activity, but here you can control it to the best of your ability and they do that. I’ve not paid much attention or thought much about it — I’ve always seen my situation as different and the only reason I’m only talking concussion is because I’ve had them before. We want to make sure that’s not a repeat process every time I get into an incident. I was more caught up in myself. I think if NASCAR is studying all of this from my accident and can help somebody else then I think it’s well worth it.”
Do you still have the same safety equipment in the car? “I feel like what I have is good. I’m in the process of phasing to one certain type of system — I have two different types of systems that I’ve acquired over the years. Part of that is being with a small team, you don’t really put a lot of your resources into — I don’t want to say the highest technology stuff, but you keep it cost effective. One thing I am going to do is I am going to get the same type of belts I had at Talladega and put them in all my cars. We just haven’t done that yet, we are still waiting for them to come in. I did change HANS device and the way that was clipped. The kind that I had, the fastening system was out-dated a little bit so they have a new type and I’m just getting comfortable with that today. It already feels better and feels more secure. Other than that, for me it’s just the comfort of knowing you’re good and you can go drive.”
