NASCAR Hall of Fame Driver Fred Lorenzen's CTE Diagnosis Should Spark Action

It was sobering yet not surprising to read Tuesday's news release about NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Fred Lorenzen officially being diagnosed with chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

Lorenzen had battled dementia for decades before his death at age 89 in 2024. 

The first driver known to have his brain tissue examined for CTE, the family and the Boston University CTE Center announced the diagnosis of Stage 3 (out of 4) this week.

CTE is an issue in football, a sport known for punishing blows to the head. So it would make sense that the same would be true for motorsports, where drivers are also subject to frequent, brutal hits that rattle the brain.

The news release noted that Lorenzen’s CTE was different than many cases, according to Boston University CTE Center director of molecular research Dr. Thor Stein, who studied Lorenzen’s brain. 

For Lorenzen, as in 10 percent of cases, the disease was worse in areas of the brain that control behavior and movement.

The Lorenzen family has pledged $1 million to help with trying to diagnose CTE earlier in life. They engaged NASCAR in talks about joining in their efforts, but so far NASCAR has not made any financial commitment.

"My dad’s dementia care came at a significant financial and emotional cost to our family," Fred Lorenzen’s son, Chris Lorenzen, said in the news release. "We had hoped NASCAR would join us in this effort, and while we’re disappointed that hasn’t happened, we remain hopeful there will be opportunities to work together to support the drivers who helped build the sport."

NASCAR’s approach toward head injuries and concussions has certainly become more aggressive over the last 25 years. 

No NASCAR national series driver has died since Dale Earnhardt in 2001, and Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s battle with concussions has brought discussion and research into head injuries to the forefront at NASCAR over the last 15 years.

Several NASCAR drivers wear mouthpieces that collect data analyzed by Wake Forest University researchers. And NASCAR uses the King-Devick test after drivers are in accidents — a quick diagnostic test also used in the NFL to determine if an athlete is suffering from concussion-type symptoms.

It would be easy to compare NASCAR and NFL responses to CTE, but the sports have some differences when it comes to the approach to health. 

In NASCAR, there is a history of drivers dying in competition and the threat of an injured competitor putting others at risk. In the NFL, a player dying during a game is extremely rare. And football's health debates center on whether teams have the athletes’ best interests as their top priority as opposed to their win-loss record.

The NFL does have to worry about youth participation and whether the best athletes will gravitate toward football if nothing is done to alleviate concussions and CTE. In an effort to lessen the risk, the league has changed kickoff rules and has grappled with what it deems acceptable when it comes to hits.

NASCAR doesn’t have as much of a worry. There will always be enough daredevils who will put their lives at risk to race fast cars.

Because the NFL is more ingrained into American culture and is such a dominant force in American society, the government has influenced and intervened when it comes to how the league protects its athletes. NASCAR, so far, has avoided such scrutiny.

It will be left up to drivers and their families and their commitment to working toward significant research when it comes to driver injuries. 

Darrell Waltrip’s family announced last month that he has an early diagnosis of possible CTE. Some drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., have pledged to have their brains studied after they die.

It is not in a racer’s psyche, or the family’s psyche, to willingly admit that racing has negatively impacted their lives. 

They often love racing too much or feel they owe their lives to the sport. 

It could be the case that they don't want to adversely affect their lives by contributing to conversations centered around how racing can possibly damage the brain and body.

The extraordinary effort by Lorenzen’s family to spark the talk — talk that could only be conjecture until this point, until a driver’s family had the brain of a loved one analyzed — has to be the start of meaningful conversations.

NASCAR has proven that in the last 25 years, it can still have good racing while trying to be proactive in keeping its competitors alive. 

It has proven that there are times even the best intentions sometimes need tweaks, as Kurt Busch’s concussions in the Next Gen car resulted in change.

"We know the need for programs supporting the auto racing community with CTE symptoms is there, and we are thankful we can ramp up our work," Concussion & CTE Foundation CEO Chris Nowinski said in the news release.

The work only occurs if there are willing participants, though.

Fred Lorenzen won 26 races from 1956-72 but wasn’t able to give his speech accepting his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015 at age 80, as he had been diagnosed with dementia more than a decade earlier.

The image of him on stage with his son Chris and daughter Amanda speaking on his behalf is enough to highlight the impact that motorsports can have on a driver's life and moreover, on an entire family. The diagnosis announced Tuesday confirmed it.

It shows that, amid all the work NASCAR does in relation to head injuries, there’s more work to be done. 

It will take drivers and families who love the sport to donate their brains. And NASCAR will need to fund and do the research to help make sure that Lorenzen’s family and those who follow didn’t make those sacrifices in vain.