Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, August 21, 1994 TAG: 9408230033
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: E1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BROOKLYN, MICH. LENGTH: Long
Irvan, 35, who was in a tight battle with Dale Earnhardt for the 1994 Winston Cup points championship, was in critical condition in the intensive care unit of St.Joseph's Mercy Hospital in Ypsilanti, Mich., with multiple injuries, including a skull fracture, swelling of the brain and severe bruising of the lungs.
The single-car crash happened at about 8:40 a.m. Saturday.
Irvan was not close to any other cars on the two-mile oval when the right front of his car suddenly dropped slightly and the car went straight into the wall, hitting first at the right-front corner.
Irvan's lungs collapsed and he was given an emergency tracheotomy at the scene to allow him to breathe. He was flown by helicopter from the crash site to the hospital.
As of 4:05 p.m. Saturday, doctors were most concerned about his lung injuries and his skull fracture, which led to swelling of the brain.
``He is not alert at this time,'' said Dr.Errol Erlandson, a trauma surgeon speaking at a news conference at the hospital. ``He has received some severe injuries to two major organ systems, either one of which in their severity as assessed at this time could be fatal. In this business, we believe that the prognosis cannot be stated.''
The doctor said Irvan also suffered ``severe injuries of the soft tissues of the face and head and neck.''
But early reports that Irvan's neck had been slashed by his safety belts were untrue, said Andy Hall, a NASCAR spokesman.
NASCAR officials were not immediately able to determine the cause of the crash.
``They've been looking at the car and they've still got more to look at,'' Hall said. ``It's probably going to be very difficult to isolate the cause of the crash because of the damage on the car.''
Most of the speculation focused on a failure of Irvan's right-front tire.
``We've talked to people who said that to us, but it may be difficult to determine if that happened or, if it did, why it happened,'' Hall said.
Ted Musgrave had just left the pits and was bringing his Ford Thunderbird up to speed when the crash occurred in front of him.
``I was about 10 car-lengths back as Ernie was exiting turn 2,'' Musgrave said. ``You head kind of straight for the wall a little bit there, and then make your bend. And as he was heading for the wall, I saw the right front of his car dip down, like he might have cut a tire down.
``He locked up the brakes and the car turned a little bit to the left, but with the right front being flat at that time, it just went straight,'' Musgrave said. ``It didn't turn left or right and hit hard on the right-front corner. His car impacted the wall and stayed against the wall. It was just a hard hit straight on, and the car slid down the wall.''
Bill Ingle, Ricky Rudd's crew chief, was on top of his team's race hauler watching Irvan drive through the turn. Ingle said Irvan trailed Rudd by five or 10 car-lengths.
``As Ricky was exiting the corner, I was still looking back at the corner, and I saw the [No.]28 car exiting the corner, and it just went straight into the wall,'' Ingle said. ``The right front hit first and the car rolled up on its side. And when it hit, you could see the hood buckle. You could see the Texaco star on its hood. You could tell it was a pretty violent hit, and then it just traveled up the wall.
``I wouldn't want to speculate and say it was the tire, but something definitely had to happen to the right front,'' Ingle said. ``It could have been a tire or it could have been something that broke on the car.
``It was like he meant to drive right into the wall,'' Ingle said. ``You know he didn't, but ... ''
``We really haven't carefully examined the tire yet, so we really can't say what happened,'' said Leo Mehl, Goodyear tire's director of racing. ``We'll just have to wait to see whether we can figure this thing out.
``Obviously, the right front of the car went down. There are gouge marks on the track and black streaks, but the tire was really flat after it [the car] hit the wall.''
While speculation focused on tire failure, similar crashes also can be caused by a broken suspension, among other things.
Rudd, who had a similar crash here several years ago, said he determined his crash was caused by a broken part in the left-front suspension.
Irvan's crash occurred about 40 minutes into the first Winston Cup practice session of the day, which started at 8 a.m. The weather was perfect for racing - the sky was a bit hazy and the temperature was in the low 70s.
Irvan was in the 11th lap of a 20-lap practice run, crew member Joey Knuckles told ESPN's John Kernan. Irvan had radioed his team that his car was tight, which means the front of the car was tending to push toward the wall in the turns.
During the first part of his practice run, Irvan had been close to Rick Mast of Rockbridge Baths and Geoff Bodine. But they pulled away from him. A couple of laps before the accident, Irvan raced briefly with Rudd.
``We were racing with each other a couple of laps before he wrecked, but he had faded well back,'' Rudd said. ``When I came back around, the car was parked in the wall like it had hit and just scraped along the wall. There were already people all over the car when I got there.''
Irvan apparently bled profusely because of the skull fracture. And with both of his lungs collapsed, the driver reportedly was unable to breathe after the crash. Rescue workers performed the emergency tracheotomy on the spot.
They worked many minutes before placing Irvan on a stretcher, wheeling him across the track, through the grassy apron and into the helicopter. At least nine emergency workers surrounded the stretcher, including one who held what appeared to be a breathing device with a tube stretching to Irvan.
After the helicopter left, Irvan's car, was covered, placed on a flatbed truck and taken off the track.
Keywords:
AUTO RACING
by CNB