| ESPN Network: ESPN | NBA.com | WNBA.com | NHL.com | ABC | Radio | EXPN | Page 2 | INSIDER | Shop | |
|
| | Sunday, July 30 Practice accident sidelines Fittipaldi | |||||
| Associated Press CICERO, Ill. -- Christian Fittipaldi won't win Sunday's Target Grand Prix. He won't even be able to play the race winner in the movie. Fittipaldi, who sustained a concussion in a crash on Friday during practice, is being held out of action for the rest of the weekend. That is bad enough, but the 29-year-old Brazilian driver was also supposed to be part of the ongoing filming on Saturday and Sunday for Sylvester Stallone's movie "Champs." Fittipaldi, the nephew of former Formula One and CART champion Emerson Fittipaldi, was scheduled to take part in some post-race filming Sunday, playing the winner of a fictional race on the 1.029-mile oval. He was hoping to turn fiction into reality in the real race, but is back home in Miami nursing a headache instead after a crash during practice Friday. Team co-owner Carl Haas said Newman-Haas Racing will run only Michael Andretti in the CART event after deciding not to find a substitute to race in Fittipaldi's backup car. Any driver who loses consciousness during a crash on a race weekend is automatically barred from competing in that event. A spokesman for Newman-Haas said Fittipaldi also will miss a scheduled two-day test at Road America, where he got his first career victory last July. Fittipaldi was knocked unconscious for a brief period, but it could have been worse if he had not been wearing the Head and Neck System, or HANS, created by Dr. Roberto Hubbard. Fittipaldi has been involved in the development of the somewhat bulky system designed to stabilize the head and neck during a crash. He and teammate Andretti were the first drivers to voluntarily wear the HANS in a race in last week's Michigan 500. Fittipaldi missed five races, including the inaugural Chicago event, in 1999 after crashing during a test at Gateway International Raceway in Madison, Ill. He was left with a head injury in which there was bleeding on the brain. Dr. Steve Olvey, director of medical affairs for CART, said Friday's injury could have been much worse. "Based on the discussions I had with (orthopedic specialist) Dr. Terry Trammell and the extensive damage to Christian's car, there is not much question that the HANS kept his injury to a minimum as opposed to his injuries in a similar accident at Gateway," Olvey said. Fittipaldi was knocked unconscious for the third time in a race car in four years. The first time came in a crash during practice at the Milwaukee Mile in June 1997. He said this was the worst. "Compared to the other times I was unconscious, this was totally different since I could hear and see certain things but wasn't sure if I was dreaming," Fittipaldi said. "I have no idea what happened. The car just swung around and I was a passenger." | ALSO SEE Montoya takes pole, zeros in on back-to-back Target GP wins Notebook: Rahal announces extensions for Brack, Shell AUDIO/VIDEO   CART medical personnel Chris Pinderiski says Fittipaldi appears to be fine.wav: 93 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 Co-owner Carl Haas explains why they will not substitute Fittipaldi this Sunday.wav: 146 k RealAudio: 14.4 | 28.8 | 56.6 | |||||
|
