When Brenda Darland is pressed on her own feelings about her husband’s return to racing, she said, “I wanted him to go out on his own terms. I didn’t want an injury to take him out, but I also didn’t want him to look back and have regrets. We were constantly going to cardiologists, neurologists, and family doctors and when I asked for their opinion, they all said he was doing great. But he couldn’t race because he was on blood thinners because of the stroke.”
Then the family got a call. It was suggested that Darland could undergo what is known as the Watchman’s Procedure. In simple terms, a small incision is made on the patient’s upper leg and a narrow tube is inserted. From there a physician will guide an implant in the left atrial appendage of the heart. It takes roughly three months for heart tissue to grow over the implant, and progress is continually monitored.
Outcome studies find that upward of 95 percent of all patients who undergo this surgery will be able to stop using blood-thinning medications. Once everything was explained, the Darlands felt it was a shot they had to take.
The procedure was successful. Was Darland’s team of doctors thrilled that he wanted to return to racing? It was mixed. It was the same advice he faced in 2001 after suffering a head injury at Eldora Speedway. Yet, as any good race fan knows, Darland won a bushel basket full of big-time races after that scare.
Even though he had decades of experience, Darland knew he needed to assess where he was physically. Thankfully, there was an open test at Gas City Speedway and he saw this as a chance to see if he could still get the job done.
Darland didn’t want any fanfare associated with his return to the car. Imagine being a driver of this stature and facing doubts about your ability to manage a race car. Brenda Darland doesn’t mince words regarding that night.
“I was terrified and I was terrified for him,” she said. “He didn’t know if he could do it. I honestly did not know if he could do it either. So they put one car out there with him, and then two and three, and it was like he never missed a beat.”
One of those present was former sprint car racer Mike Mann. A second-generation racer, Mann was fast and fearless and he captured track titles at Kokomo Speedway and Gas City. Mann had spent plenty of nights jousting with Darland and the level of respect he had for his peer had no bounds.
“Dave and I always got along great,” Mann said. “He was my favorite guy to race with because you could run side by side with him and he wouldn’t touch you. If you were going to beat him, you were going to outrun him. He wasn’t going to take me out. I mean Tony Elliott was my best friend in the world, but he would take you out. Dave is the most admired driver I have ever been around for good reason.”
Mann had helped other driver’s since he stepped away from driving and because of that several key individuals immediately converged on him at Gas City with a simple message — go help Darland. For all his excellence as a racer Darland was not particularly mechanically savvy.
“Dave started out with his dad, who really did everything, and then he always drove for top-notch teams,” Mann explained.
Some of those same people who approached Mann about lending a hand, made the same suggestion to Darland and Mann began helping his friend.
On May 7, 2022, Dave Darland was prepared to make his return to racing at Lincoln Park Speedway. It had been more than a year since he had competed. Darland was aware of the concerns of others regarding his return to the sport, but insisted it was his decision to make.
Once again, Brenda rounded up the family and headed to the track. She acknowledges that everyone “was a nervous wreck and I told him he had nothing to prove to anyone. If he wanted to walk away, I was behind him 100 percent. But I think he needed to go back and prove that he could do it.”
That’s exactly what happened. Darland started 11th and improved five positions during the 25-lap feature. He had won some of the biggest open-wheel races in the country, but this outcome was a victory of a different order.
“I think that was one of the happiest moments through all of this,” Brenda Darland said. “We saw he could race and be up front and he wasn’t putting himself or others in danger.”
Mann said he was optimistic after the night was over. Darland’s many fans were nearly overjoyed. It didn’t really matter if he won or not, what was most important was that he was back.