A month after an engine explosion sent his race car careening into a concrete guardwall at more than 300 miles per hour at Virginia Motorsports Park, drag racing champion John Force was discharged Tuesday from Barrow Neurological Institute, where he was undergoing rehab for a TBI (Traumatic Brain Injury).
According to family members, while the 16-time Funny Car Champion will continue to work with therapists specializing in such injuries, it now will be on an outpatient basis in California.
“He finally gets to sleep in his own bed,” said daughter Ashley Hood who, with sisters Brittany, Courtney and Adria and mother, Laurie, maintained a constant presence through the Hall of Fame driver and car owner’s hospitalizations in Virginia and Arizona.
The next phase in the recovery process will be outpatient speech, as well as OTPT (Occupational and Physical Therapy) to address lingering short-term memory and cognitive issues.
This story was originally published on July 24, 2024.