Fittipaldi Says His Racing Career Is Probably Over

Veteran race car driver Emerson Fittipaldi figures the fiery crash that gave him a broken neck might have been a sign, and he’s thinking about heeding it.

Fittipaldi, a two-time Indianapolis 500 and two-time Formula One champion, walked from Miami’s Jackson Memorial Hospital on Thursday, wearing a neck brace, smiling and telling reporters that the Marlboro 500 on Sunday at Michigan International Speedway might have been his last race.

“Looks like I’m not going to race again,” said Fittipaldi, who lives in Key Biscayne, Fla. “I’m not 100% sure because I need some more reflection, but I got a very strong message from the Lord.”

That message came on the second lap when a front tire of his car made contact with a rear tire of another car. Fittipaldi hit the wall and caught fire.

Fittipaldi, 49, was taken to Miami on Monday and underwent more than five hours of surgery to repair a fracture of his seventh cervical vertebra. He also suffered a partially collapsed left lung and broken left shoulder blade, and Dr. Barth Green said Fittipaldi had been “a millimeter away” from being a quadriplegic.