
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, April 4, 1990                   TAG: 9004040180
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B4   EDITION: STATE 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, ALA.                                LENGTH: Short

BONNETT'S INJURY WORSE THAN THOUGHT

Neil Bonnett, suffering from severe amnesia as a result of a crash during a NASCAR Winston Cup race, was back home Tuesday, but his wife said a full recovery isn't expected immediately.

Bonnett, 43, suffered a head injury in a 14-car crash during the TransSouth 500 on Sunday in Darlington, S.C.

After Bonnett arrived in Birmingham on Monday night in fellow driver Dale Earnhardt's airplane, his wife, Susan, said his injury was worse than doctors first believed.

"It may be temporary and it may be permanent, but the doctor doesn't think it will be permanent," she said. "It may take a few days, it may take a month, it may take years. He does feel there should be a complete recovery, and we should look forward to that, but it's not going to happen overnight."

She said tests showed the only injury Bonnett suffered was a concussion.

"The doctor told me he took a terrible, terrible lick to the head, and it's a miracle he doesn't have any other problems there," said the driver's wife. "He just has the amnesia."

She said a doctor in Florence, S.C., sent Bonnett home because there is no treatment for amnesia, and he felt Bonnett's memory might return more quickly in familiar surroundings.

"He has a terrible, severe case of amnesia," she said. "It's not just amnesia from the race, but everything prior to being in the hospital at about 6 o'clock Sunday night. In other words, life for him started at 6 o'clock."

Keywords:
AUTO RACING

by CNB