Brian Vickers has heart surgery to treat blood clots, plans to return to Red Bull Racing in 2011
Brian Vickers says he will return to racing in 2011 after having heart surgery to treat blood clots. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Illustrated
BRISTOL, Tenn. – Brian Vickers revealed Saturday that he has had heart surgery to repair a hole in his heart as part of his treatment for blood clots and has been cleared to return to racing in 2011.
Vickers, who has been sidelined since May when the blood clots were discovered, also had a stent placed in a vein of his left leg. The procedures are expected to prevent further blood clots and the health issues they have caused.
Vickers, 26, said he had surgery July 12 to close a hole in his heart. He also has been diagnosed with May-Thurner syndrome, which is caused when the left iliac vein is compressed by the right iliac artery and increases the risk of a blood clot in the left extremity.
Vickers, who drives for Red Bull Racing, said he is scheduled to stop taking blood thinners in time for him to resume racing in mid-January to prepare for the 2011 season. He said the chances of the clots reoccurring is no worse than for any other person.
“What I love to do is race,” Vickers said. “It’s not only my job; it’s my passion. I definitely missed that need for speed, the competition and the people in the industry. … I miss banging fenders with the guys I love and hate.”
Vickers said he had a hole between the two atriums in his heart that occurs in 25 percent of the population. He said that without the surgery he would have been at risk of having a stroke because a blood clot could move through his heart. He was diagnosed with May-Thurner during the surgery.
Having May-Thurner syndrome while with racing is likely what caused the blood clots in his left leg, his left hand and lungs, Vickers said.
“It should prevent me from being in the position to have another clot,” said Vickers, who added that tests cleared genetics as a cause. “I’ve had heart surgery at 26, I’ve had a stent put in. I never thought I would have one of those. Both went extremely well.
“I am on [blood thinners] Coumadin and Plavix still, and I will be the rest of the year, so I’m still out of the car. But they gave me full clearance for next year. I will be back next season racing in January. I’m really excited about that. They feel I’m probably be in the best shape in my life. I had two issues I never knew about fixed. It’s a bit of fresh air for me to really kind of know part of what caused this.”
Three weeks after having the surgeries July 12 and July 13, Vickers was biking in the mountains, he said. But he will not be allowed back in a race car until January when he is not taking blood thinners.
He said he has no more surgeries planned. He has not yet gotten approval from NASCAR to return next but expects to be cleared. He has not explored whether his driver insurance will be effected, he said.
“I’m as good or better than I was a year ago,” Vickers said. “I’ve put it completely behind me. I look forward 100 percent and enjoy every single day, enjoy every moment. You don’t know what could happen.
“I am 26 years old, and I was walking down the streets of Washington, D.C., and the next thing I was in the hospital dying.”
Vickers, the 2003 Busch Series champion, enjoyed his best season in 2009 when he won a Cup race at Michigan and made the Chase For The Sprint Cup, finishing 12th in the standings. He drove for three seasons for Hendrick Motorsports with a best finish of 15th in the standings before joining Red Bull when it entered the Cup Series in 2007.
Vickers was 20th in the standings 12 races into the season when he was diagnosed with blood clots prior to the race at Dover in May. A week after his diagnosis, Vickers said he would miss the rest of the season.
Red Bull has used four drivers in the No. 83 car since Vickers has been sidelined – Casey Mears, Mattias Ekstrom, Boris Said and Reed Sorenson. The team recently signed Kasey Kahne to drive one of its cars next season. Kahne will drive for Red Bull for one year before moving to Hendrick Motorsports. The team has not yet decided whether Scott Speed, who drives the team's No. 82 car, will return next season.
“Sometimes you don’t know how much you really love something until you don’t have it,” Vickers said. “I can tell you I really love driving race cars now that I don’t have that. I think that my edge is going to be increased. My drive and determination is going to be increased exponentially when I return.”
Vickers still calls his medical condition a “blessing in disguise” as it gave him some time off from racing.
“I don’t think I’m going to change a lot when I come back, but I am going to change some,” Vickers said. “I probably am going to tolerate a lot less, but at the same time, there are going to be areas in my life that I tolerate a lot more.
“It just depends on what it is. I have a new appreciation for life and I’m looking forward to it.”
Vickers says he has no plans to change his active lifestyle, which includes skydiving and thrill seeking.
“I’m probably more apt to push it to the limit, push it beyond the edge in whatever I do, whether it’s racing or not, than I was before,” Vickers said. “Once you have an appreciation of how precious life is and how it can be gone in a blink of the eye just walking out the door, it makes you want to really live life to the fullest.”
