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Guthrie out 4 to 6 weeks
Driver recovering from broken arm, leg, cracked ribs
Posted: Saturday July 04, 1998 05:48 PM
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Guthrie has been in three crashes in three years in the league (David Taylor/Allsport) |
INDIANAPOLIS (CNN/SI) -- Gravity won when Albuquerque-based driver Jim Guthrie met an
Indianapolis Motor Speedway wall during Sunday's 82nd Indianapolis 500.
It occurred on lap 48 of Sunday's race, involving seven cars and sending a hush over the Speedway crowd. Guthrie's car, which hit the wall almost head-on, was destroyed. Guthrie himself sustained several broken bones that required surgery, and remained in
Indianapolis' Methodist Hospital on Wednesday.
Guthrie, who suffered a broken arm, a broken leg, cracked ribs and a wound in his right hip, didn't ask about his injuries when he came out of surgery. He wanted to know when he could drive again and what shape his car was in.
But he won't be back behind the wheel for at least a month. Instead, he'll miss four to six weeks, said Dr. Kevin Scheid, one of the Indy Racing League's physicians. At the time of the crash, Guthrie was running 12th after starting 20th, and was behind th
e group that first crashed.
"There were cars and smoke everywhere," he said from his hospital bed. "I got on the brakes. I was hoping to get down to the warm-up lane."
His car made it to the grass, then started back onto the track. The rear wing flew off Sam Schmidt's car and landed under Guthrie's front tires.
"I saw the wing. When I ran up on it, I had no
steering at all," Guthrie said. "I may have still hit the wall without the wing, but it wouldn't have been that hard or at that angle."
Guthrie has been in three crashes in three years in the league, but said it's safer to race than to drive the streets.
"People get killed on the street every day," he said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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