NHRA legend John Force may have survived a terrifying crash that left his car a flaming wreck during a race last week, but his road to recovery will be a long one, according to a statement from the 75-year-old’s racing team on Sunday.

Force suffered a traumatic brain injury in the fiery 300 miles-per-hour crash at the Virginia Nationals when his car experienced a “catastrophic engine failure” as he crossed the finish line, with his vehicle slamming into a concrete guard and going up in flames.

An NHRA statement at the time said Force was alert in the immediate aftermath of the crash, but he was still taken to hospital and evaluated. There, the problems began to appear, his team confirmed. The 16-time NHRA World Champion was “heavily sedated for five days,” and initially “failed to follow the series of commands to open his eyes, squeeze the hands of his care providers and move his extremities.”

Occasionally, family members said, “he was able to respond with slight movements, but it wasn’t until he moved from trauma intensive care unit to neuro intensive care unit on Wednesday that he began to gain some momentum” and has begun to show signs of improvement.

It wasn’t until Day 5 that Force was able to open his eyes, the statement confirmed. “Following days of failed attempts, his wife and daughters were overcome with emotion when he murmured his name, ‘John Force,’ and later when prompted, gave a thumbs up.”

The “biggest” challenge for doctors, however, was to keep the “raging bull”–who is experiencing “extreme agitation and confusion”–calm.

“He has repeatedly tried to get out of bed and has been restrained; his doctors have humorously described him as a raging bull,” John Force Racing said. “However, he recognized his daughters, wife, Laurie, and called them each by name. And spoke the words, ‘I love you.’ This, along with continued daily progress has uplifted their spirits.”

Brittany, Force's daughter, also an NHRA drag racer and 2-time NHRA Drag Racing Series Top Fuel dragster champion, will not race at the Cornwell Tools Top Fuel dragster at this week’s 17^th Summit Racing Equipment Nationals at Norwalk, Ohio, “to remain with family in support of her dad.

“Despite the welcomed progress, the 157-time tour winner still faces a long and difficult recovery ahead and for the immediate future, will remain in neuro intensive care with visitation restricted to immediate family members only,” the statement said.

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