Pamplona Bulls Overrun ‘Nutty’ Newport Student : Daring: Charlie Finkle lives to tell the tale, but hasn’t gotten around to calling his parents who saw him trampled on TV.

When Charlie Finkle of Newport Beach told his family he planned to run with the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, they were not surprised. When they learned Tuesday that he fell during the race through narrow streets, was trampled and needed a few stitches in the head, they were.

“He’s athletic, he should have been able to run a little bit faster,” said DeeDee Finkle, calm after learning that her 23-year-old son suffered only minor injuries in the melee. “If I was his age, I’d probably be doing the same thing--just not getting hurt.”

More than 50 people have been gored or trampled to death since the tradition began in 1591. Dozens more are injured each year in the 825-yard race, which Ernest Hemingway made famous when he used it as the setting for his 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises.”

For the nine days of the San Fermin Festival, young men come from around the world to be chased by six of Spain’s prize bulls, which face top matadors later in the day.

Six of the nearly 1,000 runners slipped and fell in Tuesday’s 8 a.m. bull run along winding cobblestone streets that were hosed clean minutes before the race began. Officials blamed the injuries on inexperience and the drunken revelry that typically precedes the starting gun.

Finkle, one of two Americans hurt during the first of the daily bull runs, did not call home Tuesday after being released from the hospital, although news of his fall was broadcast nationally on radio and television.

“We keep thinking he’s going to call us and let us know, but obviously he doesn’t think it was a big deal,” said Ray Finkle, who last spoke to his son Sunday. “He’s got a heck of a story to tell.”

Friends and family said they expect wild stories from Finkle, who graduated from University High School in Turtle Rock in 1988 and will finish his studies in international business at the University of Arizona at Tucson this fall.

“He’s the craziest guy I know. He’s totally nutty,” said lifelong friend Tiffany Harbor of Balboa, who is scheduled to meet Finkle in Munich next week. “If anybody would have got hurt doing that, it’s Charlie.”

A member of Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and a committed intramural sports athlete, Finkle is known for doing wacky things.

“He likes to have a good time. He likes to try new things,” explained his sister, Katie, 21, recalling that Charlie was fond of diving off high cliffs when he was younger. “If someone’s doing something, he’ll jump in and do it,” she said. “That’s the kind of guy he is. He gets crazy.”

Pamplona Pandemonium Occurs each day of the weeklong San Fermin Festival, held each July in honor of St. San Fermin, Pamplona’s patron saint. Began in 1591 with the daily release of bulls down a cobblestone street from a pen to the local bullring. Young men thought it the ultimate test of courage to run ahead of the pack at the risk of being trampled and gored. The event began attracting thousands after Ernest Hemingway wrote about it in his 1926 novel, “The Sun Also Rises.” More than 50 people have been killed and thousands injured. Approximate distance: 825 yards. Average time: Three minutes. Source: Associated Press, Reuters Researched by JANICE L. JONES / Los Angeles Times