Earlier this month, tire specialist Wesley Weed suffered a stroke while attending the Snowball Derby at Five Flags Speedway. His legion of followers, Weeder Nation, is raising funds for his care.
A fixture in pavement late model racing, Weed, 60, has helped countless racers over the years. You’d often find him with tire pressure and temperature gauges draped around his neck.
Weed’s mother, Donna, flew in from Maine to be at his side this week.
“His recovery will be very long and very slow,” Donna said on Tuesday. “He is paralyzed completely on the left side of his body.”
Crew members at Five Flags Speedway took Weed to the hospital when they noticed first signs of a stroke.
“Two of his racing friends saw that his leg was not working right, and he was slurring his words,” Donna said. “Thankfully they took him right to the hospital.”
Doctors removed a piece of Weed’s skull to relieve pressure on his brain from a blood clot.
“Monday he was visited by a speech therapist,” Donna said. “He also tried to stand up for the first time since the stroke. He was too weak and in too much pain to do more than an hour of rehab.”
His caretakers estimate that he won’t be able to be transferred from the hospital for another four to six weeks.
“They have to put the piece of his skull back on, and then start a program for rehabilitation,” Donna said. “The doctors said he will have to start from scratch — to learn writing, talking and walking. So far, there has been very little improvement in his condition, but the doctors said he is making progress.”
Weed started working on tires 45 years ago at Oxford Plains Speedway and later worked for notable late model racer Tracy Gordon.
“Wesley worked for Tracy for 10 years,” Donna said. “He went back to technical school in Auburn [Maine] to learn how to analyze test numbers, so he could better understand rubber, tire [compounds], and how they reacted to track [surfaces]. He wanted to be the best there was at his job. He went out on his own and moved to North Carolina about 25 years ago.”
A Facebook update on Thursday from John Johnson provided a bit more promising news for Wesley Weed: “Wesley Weed update for today: today was a long day the nurse said. He had PT, OT, and speech therapy. She said he was a trooper through it all. He was asleep when we got there, but woke up and said “sorry for being asleep “ . Told him he needed it after his day. He then said “they kicked my ass” then had a smirk of laughter on his face. He did look a little more alert, but still a long way to go. We tried just talking about whatever, but typical Weeder, wanted to talk about upcoming races. We will go back next Wednesday to check on him again.”
Those who want to visit Weed or send him cards are welcome to do so at HCA Florida West Hospital, Room 417, 4th Floor, 8383 North Davis Highway, Pensacola, Florida, 32514.
For those who wish to donate to help with his care, you can do so via a GiveSendGo account.
“I’m here until Thursday — I don’t have the financial means to stay any longer,” Donna said. “The care is great. However, the bill is going to be big for his care. It’s great that his clients and fans have put together a fund for his care.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
