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Roper badly injured Truck Series veteran in critical condition
Updated: Saturday October 14, 2000 3:20 AM
FORT WORTH, Texas (AP) -- NASCAR Trucks driver Tony Roper was critically injured after his truck slammed into a wall during the O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night. Roper was unconscious and unresponsive when he was pulled out of his vehicle, TMS officials said. Roper was airlifted to a Dallas hospital where he was listed in critical condition and in need of a ventilator to assist in breathing. Roper went head-on into the wall along the frontstretch at the end of lap 32 after he tried to squeeze through a gap between two other trucks near the start-finish line. When Roper tried to get between Steve Grissom and Larry Gunselman, the gap began to close and his truck was nudged by Grissom's. Roper's truck crashed into the wall, burst into flames and spun out of control before stopping on the infield grass. Emergency crews had to cut the roof off Roper's truck to pull him out of the vehicle, and feverishly worked on him after he was placed on a stretcher and taken to an ambulance. He was taken by helicopter to Parkland Hospital. Roper, 35, was in his third straight NASCAR trucks race, but only fifth of the season. He has never won a race in his 60 career starts on the circuit since 1995, the best finish coming at Indianapolis in July 1998 when he finished second. Roper has also raced in the NASCAR Busch series. He ran 16 races as a Busch rookie in 1999, finishing in top-10 three times, but has finished no better than 24th in his three races on that circuit this year. The wreck involving Roper brought out the second caution of the race. On the second lap, there were 10 trucks involved in a wreck on the backstretch after Chad Chaffin spun out of control. Six trucks were knocked out of the race, but none of the drivers were seriously injured.
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