Draglist.com Drag Racing

congrats on getting peggy back to the happy place, it took me a while to get caught up on this thread.

hope you're feeling better too.

Billy, you were a truly great baseball player. You would have played big league if you hadn't injured your knee that last year you played in high school. The scouts were after you with scholarships for college play. There is nothing about your talent as an athlete that anybody could say would be less than outstanding concerning your abilities and skill on the diamond. But there comes a time in every great athlete's life when he has to face up to it and decide to retire from the game. You've hit your 756th home run. You've shown 'em all who the man is out there. But you're getting hurt. And you'll get hurt again. You've got Peggy up and running after more than 5 difficult years of hard work, sacrifice and turmoil. As a brother, I must recommend to you that you focus your future on that car. I gave up playing football when I was in my mid-30s when I pinched a nerve in my right shoulder throwing a pass...I still shoot hoops when a hoop is around, but I sold mine a while back...now I just play my guitar and try to avoid too much physical stress other than an occasional workout on the bench we have now...good luck on this, and take care of yourself. I want to see you notch up some runs with Peggy more than to hear you turned an ankle crossing home plate...hope this isn't offensive to you because I respect your many facets...Just go drag racing, man. It's what you do best...now...WC1

yes...................

I sure hope Billy's not relpyin' because he's keepin' his Doctor's appointment.

Ditto that! ^^^^^^^

I just got off the phone with Billy and he asked me to post some things about our conversation. I gave him the sermon I posted above this one in somewhat greater detail and he agreed completely with all of it. He's been having the exact same thoughts...He's having what sounds (I'm a rock n' roll doctor, but other than that I'm not qualified to prescribe an aspirin, although I did recommend Aleve to Billy) like neurological damage caused by his neck injury. I also believe as he does that he should continue to see the chiropractor and allow this injury to heal without getting cut by doctors who really don't know enough yet about spinal cords to make them heal with surgery...our opinion, open to be trampled, but I think he's looking at 6 to 8 weeks before he starts feeling better, and that's if he takes it EASY and doesn't do anything to aggravate it...Billy's almost 47 now. That's why I said 6 tp 8 weeks. If he was 58 like I'll be in a few precious weeks, it'd be 6 to 8 months. If he was 27, almost 28, 6 to 8 days...there's a sliding scale of healing time not just for injuries but illnesses as well as the years click by. Anyway, it doesn't seem that he had a stroke, but he could have had one in the past as the CT scan showed. No biggie, just something they noticed. It does appear that he had a concussion of some sort, probably a level 1...he's alert, witty and articulate, but something ain't right. The nausea and dizziness he feels is probably an after-effect of a concussion...He has to chill out, totally. He just got the you-know-what knocked out of him. He's having the numbness and vision problems that could be diagnosed as a partial stroke but the CT scan didn't show anything, which leads to a possible neurological problem. That can heal with time and patience and a strict awareness of his mortality. He's looking at this guy he knows to step in and drive his car for him, as he believes that the testing and tuning must go on. He'll sit down with this kid and have a serious man-to-man talk with him about driving defensively on the drag strip as well as he should on the street. The kid's running low 6's driving his brother's hot rod truck with a 2-stage nitrous system in it...but this is a purpose-built race car that is still being tested and checked out, they're still trying to figure out the whole deal on it at this time...so it's not going to be a go-for-the-throat assault on the strip. But it IS a step up from what the kid's been doing. He has good drag racing driving experience to fit into the program, but he's got to keep his head screwed on straight before he climbs in and makes a pass...I reminded him of how great Bruce Larsen and Don Garlits got along, (not...who could drive for Big Daddy and not feel the love? I think Bruce'd be the man to stand up to that task and he did so nobly) and we had a laugh about it. Billy's still got a sense of humor and he joked about his situation right now. The bottom line is that he did get seriously injured and it's affecting his nerve endings because he has some spinal cord problems, but it's going to get better in time. I didn't mean to ride him too hard about it, but I stepped outside of my non-assertive personality and admonished him to leave baseball behind and focus on drag racing from now on, or else...Cheers, WC1

Hiya guys.....Just checking in for a quick bit.....
Thanks for the kind (and some not so kind, but necessary) words Cat.

Latest update....I HAVE had a stroke!....Still not sure at this moment of how severe it was (or is)....but my right eye vision, right side of my face and my right arm are pretty much useless right now.......My right eye is still like looking through a kalediscope, and my right arm feels like its coming down from some novacaine: all tingly.

At this particular moment, I am torn between being scared and being pissed about this situation. I have commitments to tend to that this situation is throwing a monkey wrench into. They say that the power of prayer is pretty
strong, well...I could use all the positive thoughts and prayers I can get right now. I will try to get back in here as often as I can to keep all of yoose guys in on what's going on......Stay tuned.

Do what you are told to do by the professionals!!!

Damn, I was afraid of that. Glad your having things looked at now. Thoughts and prayers going your way. Be strong Billy and listen to the Doc's on this one.

Yea, what Mike & Jean said. I'll keep you in my prayers too Billy. Take care of yourself.