May 29, 2011
By Kim Roberson
Kim Roberson
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Trevor Bayne, the 20-year old Daytona 500 winner, is itching to put his mystery illness behind him and get back into the cockpit of the No. 16 Roush Fenway Racing (RFR) Mustang and the No. 21 Wood Brothers Fusion, after more than a month of medical tests and rest for a still, as-yet, diagnosed mystery illness.
“It has been bad being away,” Bayne admitted to the media in Charlotte this weekend. “It has been tough at times, like this week, when I thought I was ready to go and they had to hold the reigns and give me another week to make sure I could be competitive and run for wins -- it stinks not being in the car -- missing the All Star Race kind of crushed me but we are back now and as ready to go as ever.”
Bayne has spent the last month going between hospitals, including the Mayo Clinic, trying to figure out why he was suffering from double vision, inflammation of his extremities, and general malaise. After a battery of tests, Bayne says he is frustrated that no one has been able to pinpoint exactly what the issue is.
“Spinal taps at midnight is not exactly what you are looking forward to, but it happens,” he explained of some of the tests he underwent while in Minnesota. “I know at one point I had like 16 needles in my body at once and shock pads and stuff that I didn’t even know existed.
“I think I finally just had to accept that nobody knows. I can promise that if I was just tired or not feeling great I would have still been in the race car because I am a racer. I went to bed Monday night and was feeling great and woke up Tuesday and I was seeing two of stuff and that wasn’t cool,” Trevor added. They treated me for things that they thought it could be, just like that (spider) bite (in Texas), whether it was Lyme or not, they don’t have any evidence of that but they treated it just to knock it out and since then all my symptoms have gone away. “
Bayne says he is amazed at how many people showed him kindness and support through the entire experience.
“It has been incredible to and a real eye opener of how supportive everyone in our sport is – Carl Edwards flew up and saw me (at the Mayo Clinic) in Minnesota and Tony Stewart was using his plane to fly my family back and forth and Jack (Roush) was sending me back and forth on his plane and these guys come and hang out for the night. Michael McDowell is there for five days with me. Everybody in the garage texted me at least once to see how I was doing and that means a lot to me. “
Edwards, driver of the No. 99 AFLAC Fusion for RFR and a teammate of Bayne’s in the Nationwide Series, says he was glad to spend time with the young man. “Trevor is one of those guys I think we all can look up to for a number of reasons,” he explained this weekend. “I walked into the room right when they were telling him they didn’t really know what was going on and it was a really scary moment, but the strength he has is amazing.
Jack Roush says they had hoped to get Trevor back in the car this weekend in Charlotte, but looking at the weather forecast changed their minds.
“The people at the Mayo Clinic and Dr. (Jerry) Petty (NASCAR Chief Medical Consultant) all agreed that they thought the heat we were gonna have at Charlotte this weekend would be a risk to his recovery. So based on that and having the best medical attention in the country brought to his matter, his father wanted him to stay out and I did (as well) – it (is) the right thing for Trevor’s future to go on and get him fully recovered before he was faced with the environmental extremes of the hot temperatures he was going to see in the race car this weekend.”
Because of the last minute call to keep Bayne out for one more week, Matt Kenseth, driver of the No. 17 Crown Royal Fusion for RFR, took over the seat in the No. 16 Mustang Saturday, and took it to Victory Lane. Trevor spent the race on top of the 16 team pit box, and was able to take part in the victory celebration, but Kenseth admitted it isn’t the same, for the driver, or his substitute.
“When you take over for somebody, no matter what the thing is, I’ve done that a few other times, part of you feels bad because it’s their ride,” he explained after the race. “I’m glad for the team they won. I thing that will build more morale and give them a spring in their step. They had to miss last week (in Iowa) and then to get Trevor back next week coming off a win is great for the team and I think it’s great for Trevor too. I think he’s probably looking forward to getting in the car next week even more now.”
For his part, Trevor is anxious to get back behind the wheel and race. “I am 20 years old and everyone keeps telling me I have a long time to run. I am trying to listen to them, even though I am 20 and stubborn and want to be in a race car every weekend. I would be riding around with an eye patch if they would let me."
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