Gidley: “My Number One Goal is Getting Back to Being Strong”

Memo Gidley, who was seriously injured in January’s Rolex 24 at Daytona, has continued his recovery, albeit at a reduced pace following complications with his back.

The GAINSCO/Bob Stallings Racing driver suffered fractures to 12 bones in the high-speed crash. While having spent six weeks in an outpatient rehab facility, the 43-year-old returned to his California home.

Since then, Gidley has battled with pain due to a damaged disc in his back, although situation has improved over recent weeks.

“As hard as it has been at times, pain-wise, for me to start another day, I have been driven to try things that I hope will help me heal,” Gidley wrote in a detailed blog entry on his Web site.

“I am, and have been for a couple of months, back in a physical therapy program that was set up by my current doctor.

“When this started, merely walking to my car and sitting while being driven places was physically difficult and made my pain worse.”

Gidley hasn’t given a timeframe of when, or if, he will be able to return to the cockpit of a race car, although he has kept a positive outlook.

“People ask me when I will race again and if that is my priority,” he wrote. “What I tell them is that my number one goal is getting back to being strong.

“When I am back to being strong, everything else will come easily. Do I miss racing? Yes. Do I miss being strong and being able to do so much by myself? Absolutely.

“Things are getting better, it just seems slow. I do continuously remind myself that the huge accident was only a little over five months ago, and I spent the first two and a half months lying in a bed, so where I am now is pretty good.”

Read Gidley’s complete blog update here

John Dagys

John Dagys is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Sportscar365. Dagys spent eight years as a motorsports correspondent for FOXSports.com and SPEED Channel and has contributed to numerous other motorsports publications worldwide. Contact John