Roberto Guerrero’s Condition Unchanged

The future of race driver Roberto Guerrero, who suffered “moderate to severe” head injuries in an accident Thursday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, remains locked in the mysterious silence of a neurological coma.

“There has been no change in his status, but we didn’t expect one before 36 to 48 hours,” said Dr. Stephen Olvey, medical director for Championship Auto Racing Teams, one of three specialists attending to Guerrero at Methodist Hospital. “His vital signs are stable and he is moving all of his extremities.”

Guerrero, 29, a Colombian who lives in San Juan Capistrano, was runner-up to Al Unser in last May’s Indianapolis 500 and won the Indy car race last Sunday at Lexington, Ohio.

He was preparing to bring his March-Cosworth into the pits after a high-speed tire test when the car suddenly lurched into the Turn 2 wall. The impact apparently knocked the right front wheel from the suspension and the flying wheel hit Guerrero in the head. His condition Friday was still listed as critical but stable.

“There wasn’t a single scratch, not even a black and blue mark, on his entire body,” said car owner Vince Granatelli by telephone from his garage in Indianapolis. “Just the mark on his helmet where it got hit.”

Guerrero, one of the most popular drivers on the Indy car circuit, had been lapping between 205 and 211 m.p.h. during the two-day test for the Goodyear Tire Co.

The accident was eerily similar to one in 1984 when Michael Chandler crashed in the third turn at Indianapolis shortly after running 200 m.p.h. in a stock-block Eagle while practicing for the 500-mile race. A suspension piece from the right-front wheel ricocheted off the wall and caught Chandler on the head, just below his helmet. Chandler was unconscious for six days, and it was more than two years before he received a medical clearance to resume racing.

Three races remain on the CART Indy car schedule--Sept. 20 at Nazareth, Pa.; Oct. 11 at Laguna Seca, and Nov. 1 at Miami, but Granatelli said he is reluctant to enter one of his cars with another driver.

“One of the strange rules in CART is that the points belong to the driver, not to the car or the car owner,” Granatelli said. “Guerrero was a solid third, only nine points behind Michael Andretti and was almost in striking distance of Bobby Rahal for the championship. Now, all is lost. If we get another driver and he sits on the pole and wins all three races, the maximum we can get is 66 points. There isn’t much incentive there. You don’t race for the prize money in CART.”

If Granatelli changes his mind, the logical choice would be former Indianapolis 500 winner Tom Sneva, who was fired by Mike Curb two weeks ago.