Modesto, Calif. – The last time Eric Medlen came home to Oakdale, Calif., he stayed in a motel.
There was no way the drag racer was going to get any rest staying at his mom’s house, where so many friends and relatives were calling or visiting.
“Of course, everyone wanted to be around him,” family friend Kim Bacigalupi said. “Eric was a great guy.”
Referring to Medlen in the past tense is going to take getting used to for thousands of friends, family members and fans.
Medlen, 33, died in a Gainesville, Fla., hospital on Friday from injuries suffered Monday during a test run in his National Hot Rod Association funny car.
Medlen never regained consciousness after crashing at Gainesville Raceway, where his car turned suddenly into the right guardrail toward the end of his quarter-mile run.
He was flown to Shands at the University of Florida medical center and underwent at least four surgeries, but doctors said they were unable to relieve pressure in his head.
Dr. Joseph Layon, professor of anesthesiology, surgery and medicine and the chief of critical-care medicine at the university, said in a statement that Medlen suffered from a diffuse axonal (nerve tissue in the brain) injury, which has a very low survival rate.
“Despite receiving the most aggressive treatment, Eric continued to have uncontrollable intracranial pressure,” Layon said. “His body lost the ability to manage its salt and water levels, and he began displaying the complicating factors associated with” diffuse axonal injury.
This was Medlen’s fourth year as an NHRA driver. Medlen was a member of the John Force Racing Team for eight years before becoming a driver.
He was a clutch and supercharger specialist, then won six national events in three years behind the wheel.
A funeral will be held Wednesday in Brownsburg, Ind. Medlen was single and he had no children.
A photo tribute to Medlen was posted Friday on the website www.nhra.com, including a shot of the driver celebrating his last victory with his father and crew chief, John Medlen.
That win came Oct. 15 in Dinwiddie, Va., after Eric Medlen set a track record with a 4.796-second run at 303.09 miles per hour in the semifinals.
Another picture on the website was of Medlen talking to rodeo champion Jerold Camarillo of Oakdale, who was like a father to Medlen.
The two were preparing to hit the rodeo circuit as team ropers in 1996 when Medlen was offered a chance to be a crew member on Force’s team, where his father worked.
“Today was a real shocker. I wanted so much for him to come out of this thing. I felt like his whole life, after he was done racing, he was going to come back and rope with me,” Camarillo said. “He always had a rope sack for team ropes and a rope can for his calf ropes. His ropes are still in my tack room. I’m going to miss him.”
Oakdale was where Medlen came to relax. After spending the day roping and riding at Camarillo’s ranch during the summer, Medlen won the Fram Autolite NHRA Nationals at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma.
Medlen demonstrated his rodeo skills for Force and his daughters, subjects of the A&E reality series “Driving Force.” Camarillo said Force knew Medlen had been a roper but had no idea how good he was.
Camarillo said Medlen understood the dangers of drag racing, where he could hit a speed of 330 mph in a quarter-mile. Medlen loved the sport, though, and Camarillo thought he could have been one of the all-time greats.
“Drag racers are kind of like bull riders,” Camarillo said. “Riders today don’t have long life expectancy. They ride the toughest bulls. Eric drove the fastest cars. This is what they want.
“Some people are lucky. They go through their whole life. Look at John Force. He’s lived through a lot of wrecks.”
Like Camarillo, Force often said Medlen was like the son he never had.
Medlen grew up in Oakdale and graduated from Oakdale High. Lifelong friend Tony Bacigalupi, 20, said he thought Medlen would pull through.
Sitting at the family-owned H-B Bar on Friday afternoon, Bacigalupi remembered buying a horse from Medlen, Medlen taking him to ride go-karts and Bacigalupi taking Medlen snowmobiling when he was home for Christmas last year.
“He was always telling jokes,” Bacigalupi said. “He was never serious until it came time to race. It hasn’t totally hit me that he’s not going to be around.”
Tony Bacigalupi and Camarillo purchased tickets Thursday night to fly to Florida, hoping to be there in two weeks. That’s how long doctors had planned to keep Medlen in a medically induced coma to allow the swelling in his head to subside.
“My biggest thrill was the first time he won his first race” in 2004, Camarillo said. “I was so happy for him. At Sonoma last year, I was so happy and proud of him. It was such an accomplishment. The cowboy from Oakdale does good.”
