VICS: Will Power Speaks-Out About Missing St. Petersburg

Will Power was involved in a single car wreck during practice ahead of Sunday’s season opener for the Verizon IndyCar Series, on Sunday morning, Power was removed from the 12 car and replaced by Oriol Servia. They reported that it was a stomach bug that was the cause of the switch but then it came out that it might have been a concussion.

Power underwent extensive testing earlier in the week at the University of Miami’s concussion program, and as a result, INDYCAR announced that Power showed no definitive evidence of a recent concussion. They have concluded that his issues may have been from an inner ear infection which he was already being treated for.

On Wednesday March 16, 2016 Power participated in a media conference to discuss the issue. Power, who was just cleared to drive when IndyCar returns to Phoenix, stated he was relieved to be cleared. He said he was feeling better and that being in the car will be his best medicine. He added it was tough sitting out of the race and watching someone else drive his car, but that it was better safe than sorry and he will move on from it.

Also on the conference call was Tim Cindric, who is the president of Team Penske. When asked how he felt learning that after their eventful weekend Cindric replied, “Yeah, it’s been one of the more eventful weekends for the 12 car, that’s for sure, I guess from the time we got going. So obviously to have some clarity, which way we’re going, and how we’re going forward certainly helps. Because there were obviously a lot of questions, through Sunday and even after Sunday, as far as what the next steps were. It’s good to have clarity on all those fronts. And Will once again showed us how hard-headed he was, so that was probably a good thing.”

Dr. Terry Trammell was also present at the conference and spoke about how Power’s inner ear infection could have shown symptoms of a concussion and caused him to fail the test at St. Pete. He said that after the incident Power was checked and showed no symptoms so he was released. However later that evening he began to develop some neck soreness and stiffness as well as nausea, headache and dizziness. Power reported the symptoms and they made the assumption that they were from the impact from the crash from the night before.

As a result, they sent Power for a test called the Concussion assessment tool. The tool is used in sports and is based on the premise of symptoms is a concussion and then it quantifies the symptoms and gives a probability of whether or not there is a concussion. Based on Power’s score it showed he had a concussion. But now they are realizing that with Power having an inner ear infection with fluid in the inner ear, can cause you to have balance disturbance, vertigo and can cause nausea as well as produce a headache. Also before reporting the symptoms Power was in the car for qualifying. While in the car he had to brake frequently which produces muscle tension which would have explained his neck soreness and stiffness. That is how Power failed the test.

While the multiple tests showed more details to his inner-ear infection, in which he says has gotten better since with the treatment plan, they also showed that Power was suffering from cervical muscle tension, which is being treated before the Australian returns to the seat next Tuesday for a test session.

“This can cause a pretty debilitating type of headache,” Dr. Olvey explained. “It’s usually bi-frontal, goes down the back of your neck, and you get into a vicious cycle with this unless you break it. So he is on some medication to relax the muscles of his neck and to get the cycle broken so that when he steps back into the car — I think he’s scheduled to do a test next Tuesday — if he steps back into the car, the whole thing may repeat itself as far as his neck muscle spasm goes.

“So we’d like him to sit out this week, but it’s related to the cervical muscle tension problem, not a concussion, and be able to go back in the car on Tuesday and should have no further problem.”

Despite the mis-diagnosis, it was stated that Power would’ve sat out the race at St. Petersburg regardless.

“There was never a point where there was any disagreement about racing or not racing,” Cindric said. “I think the only discussion on Sunday morning was whether or not he should do one or two laps just to see how he feels in the car vs. having a real run.

“I think it’s fair to say that with or without the diagnosis or whatever or any of the doctors’ orders on Sunday, he wasn’t going to drive.”