Gordon Hospitalized After Crash at Track

Robby Gordon was knocked unconscious Friday in a high-speed crash during practice for Sunday’s Marlboro 500 Indy-car race.

Gordon, from Orange, had to be cut out of his car after the hard crash. Dr. Steve Olvey, IndyCar’s director of medical affairs, said Gordon, 26, awoke in the ambulance on the way to the infield medical center and was awake and alert when he left the speedway by helicopter for a 20-mile trip to Jackson, Mich.

Gordon was in stable condition in W.A. Foote Memorial Hospital. IndyCar officials said a CAT-Scan and X-rays were negative. He was admitted and was being kept overnight for observation.

Gordon, whose fast lap before the incident was 228.661 m.p.h., apparently was the victim of a broken rear suspension piece. He lost control coming off the fourth turn on the newly repaved two-mile, high-banked oval. His Walker Racing Reynard-Ford smashed into the concrete barrier, skidded onto the main straightaway and stopped against the wall.

After the accident, the other teams using Reynard chassis spent several hours checking and changing rear suspension parts.

Earlier this season, Gordon, a former off-road and sports car star, earned his first Indy-car victory at Phoenix, then followed that with a victory from the pole at Detroit.

Gordon came into this weekend third in the series points, trailing leader Jacques Villeneuve by 39 and runner-up Bobby Rahal by seven.