NASCAR has long been a sport where drivers risk more than a damaged car or a broken bone. For generations, crashes, concussions, and the physical toll of racing were often treated as part of the job, with the long-term consequences sometimes emerging years later. Fred Lorenzen, one of the sport’s earliest superstars, spent his later years battling dementia. Now, a posthumous diagnosis has brought renewed attention to the hidden cost of those years behind the wheel, prompting his family to take a major step toward helping others.

The NASCAR community received sobering news on October 20, 2026, as the Concussion & CTE Foundation announced that Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen had been diagnosed posthumously with stage 3 chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE).

The findings came from an analysis of his brain tissue conducted by researchers at Boston University’s CTE Center, making Lorenzen the first known NASCAR driver to receive a confirmed diagnosis of the degenerative brain disease. His children, Chris Lorenzen and Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom, are now turning their family’s painful experience into an effort to help other drivers and their loved ones.

In honor of their father, the siblings have donated $1 million to the foundation to support CTE research and establish the Fred Lorenzen Memorial HelpLine. The free service will connect current and former drivers and their families with personalized assistance for long-term concussion symptoms, CTE-related concerns, and other neurological disorders.

Lorenzen’s diagnosis is significant partly because brain injuries have received far more attention in contact sports than in motorsports. CTE has been extensively studied among former American football players, boxers, and military veterans exposed to repeated head trauma.

Racing presents a different set of risks, however. Drivers may experience serious crashes, repeated impacts, and rapid acceleration and deceleration forces that cause the brain to move inside the skull. That can have negative effects even when they do not lose consciousness or show obvious concussion symptoms.

CTE is associated with repeated traumatic brain injuries and other impacts to the head over time. Researchers believe abnormal tau proteins accumulate in the brain, disrupting normal function and contributing to the progressive loss of brain cells. Symptoms can include memory problems, changes in mood and behavior, difficulties with thinking, and movement disorders.

However, not everyone exposed to repeated head impacts develops CTE, and researchers are still working to understand why some people are more susceptible than others. The number of impacts, the length of exposure, and the age at which exposure begins may all influence risk.

There is another major obstacle: CTE cannot currently be definitively diagnosed in a living person. Confirmation requires examining brain tissue after death. That means symptoms experienced during a driver’s lifetime cannot, on their own, establish that the disease is responsible.

Without brain donations and post-mortem examinations, cases may remain unidentified, making it difficult to determine how frequently CTE affects NASCAR drivers. Lorenzen’s diagnosis is therefore an important research milestone, but it does not establish how widespread the condition is throughout the sport.

Known as NASCAR’s “Golden Boy,” Lorenzen was one of the sport’s first major stars. He won 26 Cup Series races, including the 1965 Daytona 500, and was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 before entering the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015. His career unfolded during an era when racing safety standards were far less advanced than they are today, exposing drivers to dangerous crashes and impacts.

Lorenzen’s health deteriorated over the final decades of his life. His family said he had shown signs of dementia by around 2006, and his memory loss eventually became severe. He died on December 18, 2024, aged 89. In 2016, he had pledged his brain for research after being inspired by Dale Earnhardt Jr.’s decision to do the same, allowing scientists to investigate what might have contributed to his decline.

The Concussion & CTE Foundation, established in 2007, supports people affected by concussions and CTE while advancing education, prevention, and research. Its collaboration with Boston University helped establish the UNITE Brain Bank, which has become a major resource for studying the disease. The Lorenzen family’s donation adds support for that work while creating a direct point of contact for drivers and families seeking help.

For Lorenzen’s children, the diagnosis offers some explanation for a decline they watched unfold for years, though it cannot undo their family’s loss. They hope that his legacy will extend beyond his victories and inspire better research, support, and care for the people who built the sport.