ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605230029
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER STAFF WRITER
He calls his Talladega injury ``just a minor setback,'' but when Bill Elliott finishes describing how his life has been since the April 28 accident that shattered his upper-left thigh bone, one realizes just how bad it was.
``I can't really do a whole lot, but I'm doing great,'' he said Tuesday from his home in Blairsville, Ga., during the weekly Winston Cup teleconference. ``I'm kind of just sitting around waiting for this thing to heal.''
Elliott shattered his left femur into four pieces when his Ford Thunderbird slammed to the ground after getting airborne when he spun out of control on the backstretch during the Winston Select 500.
``I started to pull out to pass a car in front of me,'' Elliott said. ``I looked to see if anybody was beside me. I couldn't see anybody. But Chuck Bown was trying to pass me when I pulled out and I got into him. Man, you've got to have eyes in the back of your head to see everything.''
Elliott said he hasn't seen a replay of the crash, but he knows what broke his leg.
``The way the car come down on the left-side rail in one hard straight impact right there at my left leg, there was no structure to cushion the impact,'' he said. ``Everything gave except where the seat was bolted. And that's where it broke my leg.
``I thought I was going to die when they got me out of the car,'' he said.
``You can be a healthy person when you go in the hospital and just be run down when you leave. But it was a long operation and a tough day-and-a-half before it happened. Just getting through that first night ... and when I got up at noon Tuesday [after the operation] for the first time, that was a major mission. I couldn't even stand up.
Using a walker, he eventually got himself to the TV set in his room, then down the hallway to the nurses' station.
``When I first got back [home] from the hospital, I couldn't get to the bathroom. I can't put weight on the leg. Today it was a major mission just getting up in the morning, shaving and taking a shower.
``I can get to the refrigerator, but I can't do nothin' when I get there. But the last week-and-a-half I've gotten quite a bit better. I've gotten to where I can kind of get in and out of bed by myself. I guess you take those little minor things you do every day for granted.''
Elliott said he hopes to be able to get back on the race track in time for the Brickyard 400 on Aug.3 at Indianapolis, but he isn't rushing it.
``Darrell Waltrip called my when I was in the hospital and indicated that he tried to come back too soon'' after breaking a leg in 1990, Elliott said. ``I just want to get it healed to where I can come back and stay back. So to get this thing. . . to 100 percent, whether it's one race or two races [out of action] or whatever, at this point it doesn't make a heck of a lot of difference.''
Elliott said the crash hasn't affected his attitude about driving.
``As far as what happened, that didn't bother me a bit,'' he said. ``I don't think this is going to affect me one iota. Just being stationary for a long time is the worst part.''
In the meantime, Elliott has been catching up on his autograph signing, doing physical therapy and watching stock car racing on television.
``I've observed a lot of things,'' he said. ``Now [Dale] Earnhardt has done a lot of things, but it seems like all they concentrate on is Earnhardt. There's a lot of other drivers out there who need some exposure.
``I was watching The Winston Select on Saturday night and where Earnhardt went, that's where the camera went. He went back to 12th, but they really didn't show any further back than that. And when Michael [Waltrip] got in front, there wasn't a lot shown about Michael.''
Meanwhile, in other injury news, Greg Sacks has been selected to practice and qualify for Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in place of Robert Pressley, who is recovering from a broken rib suffered in a crash during practice for The Winston Select.
Pressley is scheduled to start the car in the 600, but Sacks will drive in relief.
LENGTH: Medium: 83 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Bill Elliott (left) talks with Todd Bodine inby CNBDawsonville, Ga., on Monday. Bodine, who is filling in for the
injured Georgia driver, makes his first start in the car Sunday in
the Coca-Cola 600 Winston Cup race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
color. KEYWORDS: AUTO RACING 2DA