The Green Light
Video Transcript
SPEAKER 1: All right, here we
go.
Getting ready to start Funny Car
Qualifying coming up,
momentarily.
And Paul Lee, back on track.
great to see him back in the car
after he had some issues
health-wise.
But now he's told,
you are good to go.
He was really just starting
to make his way when a heart
attack sidelined him.
The doctors told him,
you'll never drive again.
PAUL LEE: I was on my Life Cycle in my gym at home. And after I got off the cycle, I started feeling chest pains. And it felt like an elephant was just on my chest within about a minute to a minute and a half. And I said-- Call-- 911. I think I'm having a heart attack.
I started losing body function. My vision was going away. My heart had stopped. I didn't know that. And the ambulance was here at my house in four minutes. Within 25 minutes, I was in the operating room getting three stints out into my heart. I found out later that I had hereditary heart disease and my LED artery, which is the main artery in your heart, was 100% blocked.
I had a defibrillator put in just in case I had another heart attack. So, I'm just lucky in a lot of ways to be able to survive a Widowmaker Heart Attack, which is the worst heart attack you can have.
NHRA drag racing is racing Nitro Funny cars at the top level of the sport. We go from zero to 325 miles an hour in less than four seconds.
[ENGINES REVVING] We go to 1,000 foot with 11,000 horsepower race cars.
First time I came to the track, I was 12 years old. I loved it so much. I remember the day like it was yesterday. And I said, that's what I want to do some day.
30 years later, here I am, still doing it. And although on the starting line, it looks like me racing another person-- which is true when we get to the starting line. But the preparation of the car, all these guys are an important part of the team. It's truly a team sport, just like football. Every one of those guys has to do their job for me to be able to go out there and race the other guy near the lane and beat that guy.
My first cardiologist said, well, you know, you're lucky to be alive. Forget about racing cars.
This is an 11,000 horsepower, violent vehicle that has-- it affects your body.
[ENGINES REVVING] The doctor told me that you're high risk for another heart attack. So I announced my retirement.
SPEAKER 2: Paul Lee had a massive heart attack. But I am very, very glad to announce that he is OK and came through that OK. Sure, he may not drive a race car again. But we know Paul Lee is watching us today. Surely wish the best for you, continued health.
PAUL LEE: Yeah, maybe I was a little sadder. I don't want to say I was depressed. I mean, I think that's too strong a word. I don't think I ever was depressed. I'm happy that I'm alive. But at the same time, you know, my life's just changed. You know, it's like, what do I do?
I came back to work. After I got out of the hospital, I was back in my office and then started my rehab, which was exercise, eating right. I have a lot of dead tissue in my heart from a heart attack because my heart was literally stopped for approximately 30 minutes.
But what the exercise does is help other parts of my heart get stronger to kind of make up for the dead tissue. The oil pump of one of our motors is critical to keep it alive. Well, just like my heart is the same thing, it's my oil pump to keep blood through my body to keep me alive.
So I try to take care of my heart now. Obviously, it's extremely important for me to do that.
I had a lot of heart palpitations for months and months after that. And every time that would happen, it would wake me up and I would panic. And it's like, wow, am I going to have another heart attack?
I'm doing everything I can do to live a long, healthy life. And so I try not to think about it too much anymore. I just go and just live my life.
When we're back at the pits, I get dressed in my fire suit in the lounge. And at that point, I just like to be quiet and get my thoughts together. We go through the whole run in our head multiple times. So when we get up to the starting line, we're basically repeating a mental exercise. And the one thing I love about sitting in the car, being in this cocoon, is total relaxation. That's my happy place.
When the crew chief pulls me up to the starting line and gives me the thumbs up, now we're waiting for the Christmas tree to come on. As soon as I see a yellow flash. I hit the gas as hard as I can, let go of that brake, and I'm starting the ride of my life.
After about a year and a half of rehab, I started to feel normal again. It took a long time. And my cardiologist said to me, you know, you might be able to race again. And I said, really? And so what do we have to do?
So the first thing we had to check was if there was any interference with my defibrillator. These cars have 244 amp magnetos. That's the ignition system on one of these Nitro Funny cars. He said, I want to get you in a Funny Car, start it up, and we'll monitor your defibrillator from a laptop. And we'll see if there's any effects.
SPEAKER 3: Looking good.
PAUL LEE: Cool.
SPEAKER 3: There's no significant electro mechanical interference.
PAUL LEE: Really? Good.
SPEAKER 3: So that's good. That's one hurdle.
PAUL LEE: OK.
SPEAKER 3: It's not every hurdle.
PAUL LEE: I understand, first things first. Take one at a time.
Step one was passed. Next step, get you in a race car again hooked up with a heart monitor to see your heart rate and everything like that, actually driving a car. So we did that about a month later. And we made three runs that day. And on the last run, I ran my best time ever. I ran a 390th.
SPEAKER 4: 322 miles an hour. Nice job, Paul.
PAUL LEE: When you have a heart attack, NHRA requires a cardiologist's signature to sign off on my license.
SPEAKER 3: Just looking at the heart muscle. And now we're-- with the colors, we're looking at the blood flow.
SPEAKER 2: After over a year of rehab and working on bettering his health, I can't tell what this means for Paul.
This is nerve-wracking. After all this time, I hope it works out for Paul Lee.
SPEAKER 3: Now we're just looking at the heart and the valves within the heart, the mitral valve.
PAUL LEE: And we got back, and they had my heart rate. And they said, you know, your heart's good.
SPEAKER 3: I don't see any reason why you can't race. There's two green flags from our point of view.
PAUL LEE: So he agreed to sign off on my license. And now I was back to being a licensed driver. That started the next journey of actually getting back, racing again.
It felt great in, not only being back on the race track and realizing I could drive the car no problem, but my heart felt good. And that was what I was concerned with. I had a lot of anxiety, just worried about, is my heart going to be able to take this?
It was great to be back. I was so happy. You couldn't believe how happy I was. When you hit the gas pedal on one of these things, it's like slamming you back in your seat from the g-forces. The ground shakes.
Actually, it measures on a Richter scale at an NHRA drag race. Even if you're in the stands, you feel it against your chest. Every time I hear a nitro engine, I just close my eyes. It's music to my ears.
The tires smoke. The drag strip has this certain smell that only a drag strip has. And the people that love the sport just love being at the track. There's just no other experience for auto racing than an NHRA drag race.
SPEAKER 2: Paul Lee got back, got clearance, and is back in the car now playing with the Straight Line Strategies Group. And he has got a championship-winning team behind him. And that, obviously, is the goal, to get out here and win the NHRA championship.
PAUL LEE: One of the things that I've always realized, and especially after my heart attack, it's not the racing that's important. It's who I race with. Because this team is not just my team. This is my friends and my family.
Because when I had my heart attack, the one thing that was going through my mind as I was going to the hospital was, I haven't had a chance to tell all my friends and my family that I love them. And basically, we're all just one big, happy family. And that's what it's all about.
It's a team sport. And I have a whole team behind me.
But when I get up at the starting line, it's me against the other guy. There you go, guys. Let's do it. And I love that. And I want to beat that other guy. [ENGINE REVVING]
I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's the greatest sport.
PAUL LEE: I was on my Life Cycle in my gym at home. And after I got off the cycle, I started feeling chest pains. And it felt like an elephant was just on my chest within about a minute to a minute and a half. And I said-- Call-- 911. I think I'm having a heart attack.
I started losing body function. My vision was going away. My heart had stopped. I didn't know that. And the ambulance was here at my house in four minutes. Within 25 minutes, I was in the operating room getting three stints out into my heart. I found out later that I had hereditary heart disease and my LED artery, which is the main artery in your heart, was 100% blocked.
I had a defibrillator put in just in case I had another heart attack. So, I'm just lucky in a lot of ways to be able to survive a Widowmaker Heart Attack, which is the worst heart attack you can have.
NHRA drag racing is racing Nitro Funny cars at the top level of the sport. We go from zero to 325 miles an hour in less than four seconds.
[ENGINES REVVING] We go to 1,000 foot with 11,000 horsepower race cars.
First time I came to the track, I was 12 years old. I loved it so much. I remember the day like it was yesterday. And I said, that's what I want to do some day.
30 years later, here I am, still doing it. And although on the starting line, it looks like me racing another person-- which is true when we get to the starting line. But the preparation of the car, all these guys are an important part of the team. It's truly a team sport, just like football. Every one of those guys has to do their job for me to be able to go out there and race the other guy near the lane and beat that guy.
My first cardiologist said, well, you know, you're lucky to be alive. Forget about racing cars.
This is an 11,000 horsepower, violent vehicle that has-- it affects your body.
[ENGINES REVVING] The doctor told me that you're high risk for another heart attack. So I announced my retirement.
SPEAKER 2: Paul Lee had a massive heart attack. But I am very, very glad to announce that he is OK and came through that OK. Sure, he may not drive a race car again. But we know Paul Lee is watching us today. Surely wish the best for you, continued health.
PAUL LEE: Yeah, maybe I was a little sadder. I don't want to say I was depressed. I mean, I think that's too strong a word. I don't think I ever was depressed. I'm happy that I'm alive. But at the same time, you know, my life's just changed. You know, it's like, what do I do?
I came back to work. After I got out of the hospital, I was back in my office and then started my rehab, which was exercise, eating right. I have a lot of dead tissue in my heart from a heart attack because my heart was literally stopped for approximately 30 minutes.
But what the exercise does is help other parts of my heart get stronger to kind of make up for the dead tissue. The oil pump of one of our motors is critical to keep it alive. Well, just like my heart is the same thing, it's my oil pump to keep blood through my body to keep me alive.
So I try to take care of my heart now. Obviously, it's extremely important for me to do that.
I had a lot of heart palpitations for months and months after that. And every time that would happen, it would wake me up and I would panic. And it's like, wow, am I going to have another heart attack?
I'm doing everything I can do to live a long, healthy life. And so I try not to think about it too much anymore. I just go and just live my life.
When we're back at the pits, I get dressed in my fire suit in the lounge. And at that point, I just like to be quiet and get my thoughts together. We go through the whole run in our head multiple times. So when we get up to the starting line, we're basically repeating a mental exercise. And the one thing I love about sitting in the car, being in this cocoon, is total relaxation. That's my happy place.
When the crew chief pulls me up to the starting line and gives me the thumbs up, now we're waiting for the Christmas tree to come on. As soon as I see a yellow flash. I hit the gas as hard as I can, let go of that brake, and I'm starting the ride of my life.
After about a year and a half of rehab, I started to feel normal again. It took a long time. And my cardiologist said to me, you know, you might be able to race again. And I said, really? And so what do we have to do?
So the first thing we had to check was if there was any interference with my defibrillator. These cars have 244 amp magnetos. That's the ignition system on one of these Nitro Funny cars. He said, I want to get you in a Funny Car, start it up, and we'll monitor your defibrillator from a laptop. And we'll see if there's any effects.
SPEAKER 3: Looking good.
PAUL LEE: Cool.
SPEAKER 3: There's no significant electro mechanical interference.
PAUL LEE: Really? Good.
SPEAKER 3: So that's good. That's one hurdle.
PAUL LEE: OK.
SPEAKER 3: It's not every hurdle.
PAUL LEE: I understand, first things first. Take one at a time.
Step one was passed. Next step, get you in a race car again hooked up with a heart monitor to see your heart rate and everything like that, actually driving a car. So we did that about a month later. And we made three runs that day. And on the last run, I ran my best time ever. I ran a 390th.
SPEAKER 4: 322 miles an hour. Nice job, Paul.
PAUL LEE: When you have a heart attack, NHRA requires a cardiologist's signature to sign off on my license.
SPEAKER 3: Just looking at the heart muscle. And now we're-- with the colors, we're looking at the blood flow.
SPEAKER 2: After over a year of rehab and working on bettering his health, I can't tell what this means for Paul.
This is nerve-wracking. After all this time, I hope it works out for Paul Lee.
SPEAKER 3: Now we're just looking at the heart and the valves within the heart, the mitral valve.
PAUL LEE: And we got back, and they had my heart rate. And they said, you know, your heart's good.
SPEAKER 3: I don't see any reason why you can't race. There's two green flags from our point of view.
PAUL LEE: So he agreed to sign off on my license. And now I was back to being a licensed driver. That started the next journey of actually getting back, racing again.
It felt great in, not only being back on the race track and realizing I could drive the car no problem, but my heart felt good. And that was what I was concerned with. I had a lot of anxiety, just worried about, is my heart going to be able to take this?
It was great to be back. I was so happy. You couldn't believe how happy I was. When you hit the gas pedal on one of these things, it's like slamming you back in your seat from the g-forces. The ground shakes.
Actually, it measures on a Richter scale at an NHRA drag race. Even if you're in the stands, you feel it against your chest. Every time I hear a nitro engine, I just close my eyes. It's music to my ears.
The tires smoke. The drag strip has this certain smell that only a drag strip has. And the people that love the sport just love being at the track. There's just no other experience for auto racing than an NHRA drag race.
SPEAKER 2: Paul Lee got back, got clearance, and is back in the car now playing with the Straight Line Strategies Group. And he has got a championship-winning team behind him. And that, obviously, is the goal, to get out here and win the NHRA championship.
PAUL LEE: One of the things that I've always realized, and especially after my heart attack, it's not the racing that's important. It's who I race with. Because this team is not just my team. This is my friends and my family.
Because when I had my heart attack, the one thing that was going through my mind as I was going to the hospital was, I haven't had a chance to tell all my friends and my family that I love them. And basically, we're all just one big, happy family. And that's what it's all about.
It's a team sport. And I have a whole team behind me.
But when I get up at the starting line, it's me against the other guy. There you go, guys. Let's do it. And I love that. And I want to beat that other guy. [ENGINE REVVING]
I wouldn't trade it for anything. It's the greatest sport.