ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, April 30, 1996 TAG: 9604300105
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: BIRMINGHAM, ALA.
SOURCE: Associated Press
NASCAR favorite Bill Elliott, who suffered a broken left thigh bone Sunday in a crash-marred Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, underwent surgery Monday to repair the damage.
The Dawsonville, Ga., racer is expected to resume driving later in the season, said Danielle Humphrey, a spokeswoman for Elliott's team sponsor.
But Elliott remained in the operating room more than two hours after Dr. James Andrews began surgery at HealthSouth Medical Center.
Elliott's Ford Thunderbird got airborne twice after spinning coming out of turn 2 on lap 78. Elliott grimaced in pain as he was removed from his car.
Meanwhile, driver Ricky Craven of Newburgh, Maine, was discharged from Carraway Methodist Medical Center in Birmingham on Monday with back pain. He was in another crash involving 14 cars.
Elliott has been named NASCAR's most popular driver an unprecedented 10 times. He won the Winston Cup championship in 1988 and holds the qualifying and race record for speed at Talladega.
His car sailed 10 to 15 feet in the air with its nose up. It landed on its wheels, and the rear was swept over the nose as it went airborne again. The car slid backwards to a stop after crashing down again on its tires.
Craven was hurt in a wreck on lap 130 that sent several contenders to the garage and stopped the race for 53 minutes while a retaining fence was repaired. It was the fifth caution flag of the race.
The wreck happened at about the same spot where Jimmy Horton's car sailed over the wall in the 1993 DieHard 500.
LENGTH: Short : 40 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB