Salazar Hurt in Indy 200 Practice

01/29/96

The Associated Press reported that Chilean driver Eliseo Salazar was hurt while practicing for last weekend's Indy 200. Salazar bumped the outside wall of the 1 mile oval track, slid across the track into the pit wall and then back across the track, colliding with the track's outside wall again.

It took emergency crews 15 minutes to extract Salazar from the wreck. He was hospitalized for surgery so that doctors could remove a piece of steel rod that fractured and penetrated the femur in his right leg.

A later AP report on Friday said that the Orlando hospital where Salazar was being treated listed him in serious but stable condition in intensive care after surgery. Salazar will undergo additional surgery in the coming days.

Paul Dever -- The Auto Channel