This week many in the entertainment industry are morning the loss of actress Natasha Richardson.  The wife of actor Liam Neeson, Richardson died two days after a fall on a beginner ski slope in Canada left her with a traumatic brain injury.  For retired NASCAR driver Ernie Irvan, the tragic loss is all too familiar.

Once one of the toughest competitors in NASCAR, Irvan had a unique and aggressive driving style that put him in victory lane often and ruffled the feathers of many in the field.  Over a twelve year span, the driver from Salinas, California compiled fifteen Cup Series wins, 68 top-fives, 124 top-tens and 22 pole positions before having his career cut short thanks to two separate traumatic brain injuries.  

The 1991 Daytona 500 champion was enjoying success at Robert Yates Racing in 1994 when a terrible crash at Michigan during practice nearly cut Irvan’s life short.  Thanks to the quick and thoughtful work of the track medics and personnel, Irvan was transported to the local hospital but still hung onto life by a string.  Doctors at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan gave Irvan an only 10% chance of living through the night, but he refused to give up.

Working diligently on his recovery, Irvan made his comeback into NASCAR just one year later and enjoyed success right off the bat.  In 1996, Irvan climbed back behind the wheel of the No. 28 he drove when he suffered his injuries at Michigan two years prior.  Scoring victories at New Hampshire and Richmond, Irvan’s recovery looked to be complete.  In his final season with RYR, Irvan scored an emotional victory at Michigan International Speedway, the track that nearly took his life.

Then, in 1999, Irvan again crashed during a practice at Michigan – exactly five years from his nearly deadly incident at the same track.  Driving a Pontiac in the Busch Series (now the Nationwide Series), Irvan hit the wall and was once again in danger of losing his life.  Cut from the car and airlifted to the hospital, Irvan was later diagnosed with a mild brain injury and a bruised lung.  Two weeks later, Irvan announced his retirement from the sport.

Since leaving the sport, the veteran driver has worked to educate the American public about the severity and dangers of traumatic brain injuries.  Creating the Race2Safety Foundation, Irvan has worked with many over the years to raise funds and raise awareness for the injury that nearly took his life on two separate occasions.

“It is to educate the American public about traumatic brain injuries,” Irvan said of his Race2Safety program.  “Every 23 seconds there is another traumatic brain injury.”

With the death of Natasha Richardson rivaling the economy in the headlines, Irvan believes she could have been saved had she worn the proper protection.  The former driver explained that wearing the proper protection was the best way to prevent these types of tragic injuries.

“If every child under the age under the age of fifteen were to wear a helmet and wear it properly [when riding a bike],” Irvan pointed out, “that would save one life a day and one traumatic brain injury every four minutes.  When you look at the numbers this is an epidemic.  There are 1.5 million traumatic brain injuries a year; fifty-thousand people die.  I almost died with a traumatic brain injury.  Dale Earnhardt died of a traumatic brain injury.  

“The thing is there is already a cure,” Irvan went on to point out.  “The cure is you wear protective headgear when you’re riding a bicycle, scooter or a skateboard.  Anytime you go some place and you’re on roller skates or anything, wear a helmet and wear it properly, because it might save your life.”

One of the toughest competitors during the 1990s, Irvan has dedicated his life to spreading the message of preventing traumatic brain injuries.  For more information on Irvan’s story and his foundation, Race2Safety, be sure to visit http://race2safety.com.