ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, May 12, 1996 TAG: 9605130176
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C7 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stan Fox still doesn't remember what happened to him almost one year ago at the start of the Indianapolis 500.
He doesn't remember the devastating crash that put him in a coma for five days. He doesn't remember the months of therapy as he struggled to recover. All he knows is he wants to race again.
``As far as I'm concerned, I'm ready. As far as the doctor is concerned, I'm not ready,'' Fox said Saturday. ``Until we can get together and they can tell me I'm not ready and tell me why, I really haven't gained anything.''
Fox, a popular midget car veteran who appeared in eight Indianapolis 500s, was at the Speedway for the start of qualifications for the May 26 race.
Last year, he started from the middle of the fourth row but was involved in a six-car crash on the first lap of the race. He said he first saw a tape of the crash about three weeks ago and it appeared another car struck his right rear tire.
``That's why it turned straight into the wall,'' he said.
Doctors at Methodist Hospital removed a blood clot from his brain but he was in a coma and in critical condition for five days while the potentially fatal brain swelling subsided.
He regained consciousness on June 2. By July, he was out of the hospital and at an Indianapolis rehabilitation center. A month later - 10 weeks after the crash - he walked out and headed home to Wisconsin for outpatient therapy.
``My recovery was unique because I don't remember about three months,'' Fox said. ``I don't remember being down here in Indianapolis at all, and I mean the whole month of May.''
As for driving again?
``I don't know. We'll have to wait and see. When? I don't know,'' Fox said. ``My memory still isn't 100 percent but I can walk and talk and I'm ready to race again.''
LENGTH: Short : 45 lines KEYWORDS: AUTO RACINGby CNB