Exams Don’t Give Answer Earnhardt Needs More Tests, Told Not To Race For A While

Dale Earnhardt was released from the hospital Monday and told by doctors not to drive until more tests can determine why he lost control of his car at the Southern 500 on Sunday.

Earnhardt hit the wall in Turn 1 and Turn 2 right after the green flag dropped, then spent two laps trying to find pit road. He was rushed from the car and later taken to McLeod Regional Medical Center.

While doctors couldn’t find anything wrong, “we don’t want him to drive his car or anybody’s car until he’s completed the workup,” neurologist Dr. Joseph Healy said when Earnhardt was discharged.

Healy said the 46-year-old could complete the tests as an outpatient.

“I don’t know what happened,” Earnhardt said. “I feel great now.”

It was as frightening as any high-speed collision as Earnhardt, a seven-time Winston Cup champion, was carried like a rag doll to the Darlington Raceway’s care center. He spent almost 24 hours undergoing tests at McLeod, all which came back negative.

“He had CAT scans, an EKG, an MRI, they ran dye through his arteries, everything,” Earnhardt spokesman David Allen said. “It’s kind of baffling.”

Allen said the tests did not show any symptoms of a heart attack or evidence one was starting.

Healy said additional tests were recommended for several reasons - Earnhardt’s profession, past head injuries, and his father dying of a heart attack at age 44.

Earnhardt told doctors he would do the tests when he felt up to it, “which won’t be long,” Healy told The Morning News of Florence. “But we have asked him not to drive in the meantime.”

Sunday, Earnhardt was replaced in the car by Busch Series driver Mike Dillon, who finished 30th and kept the Intimidator sixth in the Winston Cup driver standings.

“It had to be a little confusing for everyone involved, but obviously cooler heads prevailed,” Earnhardt said.

At a driver’s meeting before the race, Earnhardt pulled his chair into the shade, said Southern 500 winner Jeff Gordon.

Healy said Earnhardt had an “episode of a transient alteration in his consciousness.” The doctor said that usually means something neurologic or cardiac is responsible, but nothing like that was uncovered.

The doctor said Earnhardt’s case is not uncommon. People often have spells and by the time you see them, they have recovered, he said, and tests never indicate what happened.