PAUL LEE
shown I had a clogged artery and we could have
fixed it before I had a heart attack. But me being
stubborn and being healthy, and feeling fine, I
didn’t see any reason for me to go have a stress
test. Now, I think anyone over 50 should have
one, whether you have hereditary heart disease
in your family or not. I had heart disease and
didn’t know it, basically.
I heard your trials that day described as
almost an out-of-body experience. Is that what
it felt like as you when through it?
It was more like I now knew when you die
gradually, your brain is the last thing that goes
because I lived it. I mean, like I said, I couldn’t
speak. I couldn’t even see. I even lost my vision,
which my body was shutting down. I couldn’t
move. But the one thing I could still do, my brain
was still perfectly clear. I could still hear everything
that was going on around me and I could
hear everybody talking to me. I just couldn’t respond
to them.
I was just thinking of all the things that I wish
I would have done if I died and I didn’t do. I wish
I would have told people that I loved them, my
family and my friends, and I was like, man, I wish
I’d get one more chance to tell these people that I
love them. I prayed that, “I’m not ready to go. Just
let me have another chance, another shot at this…”
I just remember that going through my brain.
So as you’re going through the healing process,
did any aspect of your mindset or priorities
shift, or even the way you live your life?
I changed a lot of the thinking, a lot of the
things I do. My friends, I don’t care if they’re a
man or woman, I tell them I love them.
I just feel blessed for every day that I wake
up and have another day. I just try and make
the most of it every single day. I’ve always been
competitive, whether it’s racing or business, so
that really hasn’t changed. I still have the drive to
PAUL LEE’S TEAM IS FULL OF FAMILY AND
FRIENDS, INCLUDING CREW CHIEF AND
LONGTIME FRIEND, JIM OBERHOFER, WHO
HAS HELPED PUT LEE ON A WINNING TRACK.
better my business and
better my racing, too.
That’s my life. I live my
passion in both racing
and business. I love what
I do, and I’m just lucky
and blessed that I’m still
here to enjoy that.
At some point racing
again enters the
equation. I know you
were content not racing
again, especially if
that kept you alive, but
once that was an option,
how did it become reality
for you?
I never expected to be racing again, and I was
OK with it. Mentally, I was fine. I’m lucky to be
alive, forget about racing. It didn’t really bother
me that much.
I went on with my life and went back to business,
and I tried to take it easy. The doctor said
stress is not a good thing for your heart, so things
were going along good. 2018 comes and the whole
time I’m rehabbing my heart. I was going to rehab
a couple times a week, and I have my own
exercise program, which includes cardio work on
the Lifecycle, lifting free weights, eating healthy,
which I’ve always done anyway, so I didn’t have
a problem with that.
I just kept doing that, and every three or four
months they would do another
stress test on me to check the
efficiency of my heart. The efficiency
of a healthy heart is 70
percent and mine was under 30
percent after my heart attack,
which is really low. I just kept
working on it, not necessarily to
come back racing, just to stay
alive. They put a defibrillator
in my chest to help me if I had
another heart attack, because I
was high risk for another heart
attack. I just kept working at it
really hard because that’s just my
philosophy. I’ve always been a
hard worker, so if I’m going to do
it, I’m going to do it all the way.
All of a sudden, my cardiologist
says, “You know, your rehab’s
really working out really well.”
He says, “Your heart efficiency
number is kind of jumping up
here. It’s up to 40-45 percent.”
He asked how I felt, and I said,
“I feel normal, to be honest with
you.” I said to him, “Do
you think I could race?”
And he goes, “Yeah, I
don’t see why not.” He
just thinks I have this
regular car, right?
So I said, “Before you
give me permission to
do that, I think you’ll
want to come out to the
races to see what you’re
really approving me to
do.” He said he would
love to come see it, so in
November the [NHRA]
World Finals [in Pomona]
were coming up. I
said, “Why don’t you
come with me for the
day, and I’ll show you
what these race cars do
and see if you think I can
do this again.”
He agreed and I brought my cardiologist to
Pomona and got him in the pits. I wanted to show
him what a nitro Funny Car really is about and
Del [Worsham] was nice enough to give me free
rein of his pit. I showed the doctor and, of course,
he’s still not impressed yet.
Then Del warmed up the car and [the doctor’s]
eyes got real big like silver dollars. He’s like, “Wow.
66 | Drag Illustrated | DragIllustrated.com Issue 157