NASCAR Legend Fred Lorenzen Becomes First Known Driver Diagnosed with CTE

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Lorenzen died in December 2024 at 89 years old

Natasha Dye is a Writer-Reporter for PEOPLE covering sports. Her work has also appeared in The New York Post and Popstar! Magazine.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen was posthumously diagnosed with CTE, making him the first documented case of the disease in a NASCAR driver.

Lorenzen, who died on Dec. 18, 2024 at 89 years old, was diagnosed with stage 3 Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) by researchers at the Boston University CTE Center after his family shared the results of his post-mortem brain tissue analysis, according to the Concussion & CTE Foundation .

Before his death, Lorenzen lived with dementia for 20 years, according to the Concussion & CTE Foundation. In 2016, Lorenzen had the support of his children Chris and Amanda when he pledged his brain to research.

Chris and Amanda launched the Fred Lorenzen Memorial HelpLine at the Concussion & CTE Foundation and announced a $1 million donation. The foundation benefits drivers and their families looking for medical care.

Lorenzen leaves behind a powerful NASCAR legacy as he became the first NASCAR driver in history to earn $100,000 in just one season in 1965 — the same year he won the Daytona 500 in his No. 28 Holman-Moody Ford.

In 1963 and 1965, he was voted NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver, and in 2015, Lorenzen was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

CTE, which can only be discovered in the brain after death, primarily affects athletes who compete in contact sports like football. According to the Boston University CTE Center , the condition has been found “in an overwhelming percentage of examined former NFL and high-level tackle football players.

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Most recently, NFL legends Steve McMichael and Billy Ray Smith Jr . are among the football players to be posthumously diagnosed.

Dallas Cowboys player Marshawn Kneeland, who died by suicide in November 2025, was diagnosed Kneeland with stage 1 CTE after a post-mortem brain tissue analysis, according to the Boston University CTE Center .