Almirola could return sooner than initially expected

The driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsport Ford received encouraging news last Friday at Charlotte Medical Center. Almirola received his first CT scan since his accident.

Healing quickly

Initially, Almirola was told his recovery time would be eight to 12-weeks. Now, he’s potentially looking at a July 14 return at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

“Dr. Coric, who is my spinal specialist down there, and Dr. Petty both reviewed the CT scan and
the vetebra that was crushed and fractured, shows to be healing really well. There’s already some new bone growth happening.

“So they feel like — based on what they’ve seen — I’ll be on the quicker side of the recovery. They’re still not giving me a definitive timeframe. Originally, they told me eight to 12 weeks. Now, they feel like I’ll be on the quicker side of that eight to 12 weeks. I’m aiming — and hopeful — that it will be more like eight. They agree with the progress I’ve already shown in the first three-and-a-half weeks when I got the CT scan that I’ll be closer to eight than I was 12.”

After a limited run with RPM in 2010, Almirola is in his sixth full-time season with the team. He scored his first Monster Energy Cup Series win at Daytona International Speedway in July 2014 — the fifth career victory for RPM. Almirola was coming off of his second top-five finish of the season prior to the accident. He dropped to 20th in the standings following an infraction at Talladega Superspeedway.

At 33, and with two young children, Almirola is thinking long-term. He knows not to rush his recovery. Still, for a driver that’s used to being constantly on the go, resting is far from normal.

“I didn’t mind the first week or so off, I was in enough pain that I just wanted to stay at home and sit on the couch, ” Almirola said. “But after that when my body started cooperating with me, I was like, ‘Oh, man, I’m ready to go.

“I’m going to listen to Dr. Coric and Dr. Petty,” Almirola said. “The day that they tell me to go have it, and I don’t have any more risk of re-injuring my back, that’s when I’ll go and get back in the race car. For me, to get back in the race car if there’s any doubt in my mind that I’m going back a little too early if I would get in another accident, I could damage it or make it worse. The penalty for that could be paralysis. I’m just not going to take that chance. 

“In addition to that, I wouldn’t be as effective in the race car. In the back of your mind, I don’t care who you are, I don’t think you could drive a race car the way you needed to. I don’t think you could hang it all out on the line when in the back of your mind you know you’re not 100 percent and if you were to re-injure yourself it would be really bad.

"Mentally, I think that would be challenging. For me, having that affirmation from Dr. Coric and Dr. Petty that you’re ready to go, at that point, I’ll get back in the race car and I won’t have any doubt in my mind and I’ll go race like I’ve alway have."

Almirola is quick to point out that his doctors are non-committal when it comes to offering an exact return date. He returns for another CT scan to check that the bone is healing properly on June 28, prior to Daytona’s July race.

“If there is no blood in the bone any more, at that point they will give me more definitive time line at my next visit,” Almirola said. “But they felt like it was still too early to tell me exactly when I’ll return.”

As part of his rehab, Almirola has relied on swimming and other low-impact forms of exercise to keep his body in shape following the accident.

“As soon as I started feeling better, I wanted to get back to the gym,” Almirola said. “I wanted to get back to figuring out what my limitations were. Once I physically started to feel a little bit better, I was going to physical therapy and rehab. The best thing I can do right now for cardio is swim. I think a week-and-a-half after my accident, I got into the pool and started swimming and moving my arms around gingerly.

“The pool is so good for getting mobility and stuff back without putting any load on your spine.
The body is supported by the water in there and you can move your arms around and swim and start to fire all those back muscles back up without pulling any load like picking up weights. I’ve been in the pool a lot, doing a lot of swimming. That’s been really helpful. And then a lot of band exercises and a lot of stretching because all those muscles around the injured vertebra and all the ligaments get so tight because it’s the body’s defense mechanism against hurting itself any worse. So you have to be really diligent about stretching and doing exercises to increase your range of mobility.”

Regan Smith initially filled in for Almirola after he was sidelined. Darrell “Bubba” Wallace took over the substitution role last week at Pocono Raceway and finished 26th. Wallace will be in the car this weekend at Michigan International Speedway.

Although Almirola has been taking it easy over the last month, he’s made weekly visits to the race shop and watches the races on TV in an effort to stay involved.

“I was at the shop on the Monday afternoon after the accident to meet with my guys,” Almirola said. “I came home that Sunday for Mother’s Day, then went down to Charlotte Monday morning, first thing. I was at Charlotte Medical Center meeting with the doctors down there to go through tests and screenings. That afternoon, Janice (wife) drove me to the shop to see everybody. They all huddled around so I could tell them the story all at once.

“But I’ve been going to the shop regularly. I’m extremely fortunate that I have a tremendous group of guys working on my race cars at Richard Petty Motorsports. I felt like home there since Day 1 with the group of guys. They’ve always made me feel like I’m part of the team and I think that’s still the same. They’ve been happy with the guys that have filled in. Regan and Bubba have done a good job. But every time I come to the shop, the team reassures me that they can’t wait until I get back in the car. They’re excited for my to get back in the car. They want me hanging out with them in the garage. They want to hear my voice on the radio and want me to be the guy holding the steering wheel.”