Foyt Expected to Fully Recover From Crash

A. J. Foyt, the winningest driver in Indy Car racing history, will fully recover from multiple fractures suffered in a weekend crash, doctors said today.

Foyt remained in satisfactory condition after being transferred from a Milwaukee hospital to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was scheduled to undergo a second operation late Monday.

Foyt, 55, sustained multiple leg and foot fractures in a crash Sunday at the Texaco Havoline 200 at the Road America raceway in Elkhart Lake, Wis., about 60 miles north of Milwaukee.

“These are not the kind of injuries we feel will end his career,” said Dr. James Stiehl, an orthopedic surgeon at Milwaukee County Medical Complex who supervised Foyt’s initial 4 1/2-hour operation. “Ultimately, we feel he’ll gain a full recovery.”

Surgeons planned to reclose some wounds and review some surgical procedures completed Sunday night, said Dr. Terry Trammell, director of medical services for Championship Auto Racing Teams.

The accident ended Foyt’s 1990 racing season.

Trammell said Foyt would be unable to walk for eight weeks and would require four to six months to recover fully.

“I’m going to do everything I can to get him back into the car, but in the end it’s a decision he’ll have to make,” he said.

Past injuries to Foyt, a four-time Indy 500 champion, include a crash during the 1981 Michigan 500 in which he broke his right arm, and a stock car crash last year at Charlotte, N.C., in which he sustained a serious concussion.

But the crash Sunday resulted in the worst injuries of his career.

“I feel he’ll make it back behind the wheel to compete again if that’s what he wants to do,” said Tony George, president of the Indianapolis 500. “He’s in good shape for a man 55 years old.

“He’s always been a fast healer,” George added. “Whether or not he heals as fast at 55 as he did at 25, we’ll know in a couple of months. But my impression is that he still heals pretty fast at 55.”

Foyt was in 14th place, a lap behind the leaders, when his car went off the rolling four-mile, 11-turn circuit at Elkhart Lake at the end of the main straightaway, drove over an embankment and into a grassy depression, crushing his legs.

CART safety workers struggled for more than 15 minutes to pry the crushed front end off Foyt, before transporting him to Milwaukee by helicopter.

The rescue interrupted the race for about 90 minutes. Michael Andretti eventually won.

The operation on Sunday at the Milwaukee County Medical Complex was to repair Foyt’s left foot and dislocated left knee with a plate and screws, Stiehl said.

Foyt also suffered a fractured left heel and a dislocated right ankle. A broken toe on his right foot was mended with a surgical pin, Stiehl said.