Steve Park Returns to NASCAR - A New Beginning

Craven, like Park, had come back from near devastation, having suffered a head injury in a crash at Texas in '97 while driving for Hendrick Motorsports. He returned to the circuit after missing two races that year, but early the next season, '98, Craven had to again step away from the sport, after suffering post-concussion syndrome. "One of the greatest challenges for a competitor and a race car driver is to see someone else in his race car," says Craven. "There is an urgency to get back, particularly when you feel you're close to winning and things are going well."

Ernie Irvan, a 15-time winner in Winston Cup, offers another example of a driver making a successful comeback from head injuries. In '97, Irvan won at the same Michigan track that had nearly ended his life during a '94 crash. Another hard crash at the track, in '99, effectively ended his career. "The toughest part is having to be out of the car, not being able to do what you love to do-drive a race car and do it competitively," says Irvan.

Talk to any driver who has been out of his car for an extended period and he can provide insight into Park's anxious state of mind whenever the Darlington race rolled around this past spring. Kenny Wallace had substituted for Park in the Pennzoil car last fall then ran the first four races this season before Park took over at Darlington.

"We made an early mistake, but I think it was from a lack of patience," says Park of the crash during his comeback. "Think about it: I sat out for six months, qualified good, got the lead, was leading the race, and I wanted to lead that race. I wanted to stay out front. One thing Dale taught me when he was with us was patience. He said, 'In order to finish first, you have to first finish.'

"Over the course of the next week, I thought about it. If Dale was alive and with us, Monday morning he would have scolded me. He would have told me, 'You could have dropped back to 25th. You could have not even passed the lapped car. You could have made a pit stop and come out a lap down and still finished in the Top 10.' It's so true. And I thought about it and thought about it. Man, I know I could have dropped back to 25th and still finished in the Top 10 somewhere. He was definitely right. It was just a lack of patience on my part because I sat out for six months, got up front, and wanted to lead that race."

The next race up after Darlington was Bristol, where crashes are an accepted part of the show. Whenever Park's car got into the back of Buckshot Jones' car, Park quickly accepted responsibility and apologized. That wasn't enough to appease critics, however. Rumors circulated that NASCAR was going to re-evaluate Park's status. That never happened, of course, and Park was undaunted by the talk.

After a crash at Darlington in '90 left Neil Bonnett with temporary amnesia and dizziness, the popular Alabama native built a career in television. The desire to race never left Bonnett, and by '92 he was back in a race car as a test driver for Dale Earnhardt. Despite a hard crash during a one-race return to competitive driving in '93, Bonnett secured a deal for six races in '94.

Bonnett never completed the comeback. He died in a crash during practice for the '94 Daytona 500. The accident happened at nearly the same spot as Earnhardt's fatal crash seven years later.

"I've got really big shoulders, so bring it on," he says. "It's hard to come back from an injury no matter what. There's going to be reporters. There's going to be skeptics. I wouldn't put a human being through what I've been put through for those six months to get back behind the wheel of a race car. I think (it would be different) if people knew the tests that I've taken, the amount of effort of going to New York City and Pittsburgh and Duke Eye Center. I mean, I didn't just jump back behind the wheel of a car."

Talk also surfaced that Park would be released from DEI at the end of the season or before. Although Ty Norris, executive vice president of motorsports for DEI, stressed in the late spring that Park's job was not in jeopardy this season, he said the company was exploring its options for next season with Park and teammate Michael Waltrip.

Park knows, nonetheless, that there's a final, significant step in his comeback that would put an exclamation mark on the whole ordeal. He says that would be "when we can just raise our hands in Victory Lane as victors."