ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Monday, April 29, 1996                 TAG: 9604300022
SECTION: SPORTS                   PAGE: B-5  EDITION: METRO 
DATELINE: TALLADEGA, ALA.
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER

ELLIOTT SUFFERS BROKEN LEG SEVERAL RACERS SHAKEN UP IN 14-CAR CRASH

As he covered the remains of Ricky Craven's Chevrolet Monte Carlo, the agony on crewman Banjo Grimm's face told the story of the worst Winston Cup crash at Talladega Superspeedway in three years.

But when the toll was measured in damage to drivers, a single-car accident involving Bill Elliott was worse. Elliott broke his left femur (thigh bone) when his car slammed on its left wheels after going airborne on the backstretch on lap 78 of the Winston Select 500. Elliott was scheduled to undergo surgery this morning at Caraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham.

In the big 14-car crash, which occurred on lap 130, Craven's car sailed above the first turn wall and tore up the catch fencing as it flipped amidst some of the 13 other cars in the wreck. Other drivers involved included Mark Martin, Winston Cup champion Jeff Gordon, Rusty Wallace and Ernie Irvan.

Craven, bruised and battered, was airlifted to Caraway, but apparently wasn't hurt seriously.

``He's bruised and sore, but the CAT scan was negative and there are no broken bones,'' NASCAR spokesman Kevin Triplett said at the end of the race.

``Ricky said his back hurts and there's a bruise on his arm,'' car owner Larry Hedrick said as he emerged from the infield care center at the north end of the garage. ``He's coherent, but he feels rotten as you can well imagine.''

Martin limped out of the care center to his car, but said he'd be OK.

``I've got a little bit of a bruise,'' he said. ``It hurts now more than it will later. I just hit my foot on something.''

The accident started when Gordon went three wide to the outside of Martin at the end of the trioval. Gordon's left front hit Martin's right rear, turning Martin into the wall.

The usual mayhem followed, compounded by the fact that Craven's car began tumbling and sailed up into the fence. Craven would have gone out of the park except for the catch fencing, which was installed after Jimmy Horton flew over the first turn wall here in July 1993.

``It just happened real fast,'' said Wallace, who actually led 16 laps, but was the victim yet again of a superspeedway crash. ``Three-wide racing going on down there in turn 1. We're doing it out there, but that's really not the right way to do it. It was a bad deal - cars getting clipped on the inside, cars getting clipped on the outside.''

Elliott's crash occurred when he got clipped coming off turn 2. His car became fully airborne, with the bottom facing forward, and then touched the ground again at the right front corner. That slammed the car down hard on its left side and no doubt that was the hit that broke Elliott's leg.

The car bounced hard a couple of more times on its wheels, but never did flip over. At first it was thought that Elliott had broken or dislocated his hip, but the broken leg was diagnosed when he reached the Birmingham hospital.

LENGTH: Medium:   62 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. Bill Elliott (center) winces as he is removed from 
          his car after a crash at Talladega on Sunday.
KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING