Nasse Fully Recovered and Ready to Tame Five Flags & Mobile
18-Year-Old Overcomes Pneumonia and Blood Infection to Return to the Track
Florida native Stephen Nasse is excited to return to Gulf Coast racing action next weekend at Five Flags Speedway (FL) and Mobile International Speedway (AL) just like many other drivers in the field, but for Nasse the opportunity means a little bit more this time.
Just a week into June, Nasse was diagnosed with a case of pneumonia which resulted in dangerously high white blood cell counts as well as a severe blood infection which landed him in the hospital for over a week. Family, friends and the racing community as a whole rallied around the 18-year-old driver with thoughts and prayers until he announced on July 1, just a little under a month after being admitted to the hospital, that his doctors had cleared him to race and that he would be in the field at a local race on Independence Day weekend.
Now close to 100-percent, Nasse is ready to battle with the Southeast's top Super Late Model racers once again in the Southern Super Series Gulf Coast Doubleheader weekend, Friday July 26 at Five Flags and Saturday July 27 at Mobile.
For Nasse, this isn’t just another trip to the Gulf Coast, it’s a chance he wasn’t sure he was going to get.
“What I went through was just something crazy," said Nasse. "I don’t know how to put it into words; it was just, I don’t know, it wasn’t good.”
Nasse's return race at Showtime Speedway in Florida was rain-shortened, so the Gulf Coast Doubleheader will be his first real taste of competition since falling ill nearly two months ago. In the Navy Federal Credit Union 125 presented by Driven Racing Oil Friday at Five Flags and the RE Suspension 125 at Mobile, Nasse will face some of the toughest short trackers in the country with the Southern Super Series at two of the most famed short tracks in the region.
“I’m looking forward to getting back into the car,” said Nasse. “I’m ready to get back to running with a full field and with that level of competition. I tried to run a race over here and it ended up getting rained out. We only made about 10 laps in the race, but that was just a local race. So I’m looking forward to getting back in the car with all of that competition and to get out there and race them.
Although the teenage driver has been through more than most his age since his last race, Nasse does not think he will be at any disadvantage when he’s back behind the wheel against guys like Bubba Pollard and Daniel Hemric.
“I know I’ve been sick for a while but I still think about racing every single day so I don’t think much is going to change when I get back in the racecar. I think the only thing I have to worry about is just keeping my breath under control and being able to keep my heart rate down and to stay calm in the car, because it’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be hot and I’m going to be tired but hopefully it will all just work out, we don’t know yet.”
Ticket information and more on the Friday, July 26 Navy Federal Credit Union 125 presented by Driven Racing Oil, a combination event between the Southern Super Series, the Sunoco Gulf Coast Championship Series and the track's Buddy's Home Furnishings Blizzard Series at Five Flags Speedway can be found on www.5flagsspeedway.com. More details on the Saturday, July 27 Miller Lite Series, Sunoco Gulf Coast Championship and Southern Super Series event, the RE Suspension 125 at Mobile, can be obtained on www.mobilespeedway.net.
For more information on the Southern Super Series, visit SouthernSuperSeries.com. The Facebook page for the Southern Super Series is located at www.facebook.com/southernsuperseries and on Twitter it’s @SoSuperSeries. For advertising or sponsorship questions, please contact the track representatives. For media inquiries, please contact Matt Kentfield at 51 Sports via matt@51sports.net.
July 24, 2013
