On Thursday afternoon, the Palmer family released their first official statement on the condition of Andrew Palmer via Palmer’s manager, Mike Perry. Palmer was injured in a practice crash during the Pirelli World Challenge race weekend at Lime Rock Park with Jorge de la Torre in Connecticut on May 28. De la Torre suffered a number of broken bones in the crash. After surgical procedures were performed to repair the fractures, de la Torre was released from the hospital on Jun. 8 and is currently recovering at home in Texas.
According to the new release, Palmer remains hospitalized at Hartford Hospital. No mention of Palmer’s condition was noted. According to Bentley Motorsport’s official statement back in May, Palmer suffered a head injury in the crash. They did not go into detail in that original release and the Palmer family followed that rule as well.
However, there is some good news. Palmer is showing some signs of progress.
The release states that “Andrew has demonstrated great strength and shows signs of improvement every day.” What those signs of improvement are is unclear, but anything positive is good after 26 days with no updates. However, the Palmer family is not currently in position to give any kind of long-term prognosis for Andrew’s ongoing recovery. Regardless, they are continuing to think positive thoughts.
In addition, the Palmer family thanked the staff of both Sharon Hospital and Hartford Hospital for all of their help to this point. Both Palmer and de la Torre were originally transported by ambulance from Lime Rock Park to Sharon Hospital for further stabilization after the crash before being airlifted to Hartford.
Finally, the Palmer family thanked fans and the media for respecting Andrew’s privacy. For those of you on Twitter, you can send a get well wish by using the hashtag #GetWellSoonAndrew. Bentley Motorsport is currently working on a way for fans to send physical get well soon cards to Palmer. We’ll share that information when it is made available.
About the author
Phil Allaway has three primary roles at Frontstretch. He's the manager of the site's FREE e-mail newsletter that publishes Monday-Friday and occasionally on weekends. He keeps TV broadcasters honest with weekly editions of Couch Potato Tuesday and serves as the site's Sports Car racing editor.
Outside of Frontstretch, Phil is the press officer for Lebanon Valley Speedway in West Lebanon, N.Y. He covers all the action on the high-banked dirt track from regular DIRTcar Modified racing to occasional visits from touring series such as the Super DIRTcar Series.
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