THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, May 22, 1996 TAG: 9605220505
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: 55 lines
Bill Elliott calls his Talladega injury ``just a minor setback.'' But when he 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 near where it connects to the thigh bone when his Ford Thunderbird slammed to the ground after getting airborne on the backstretch during the Winston Select 500.
``I started to pull out to pass a car,'' 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 accident, but he knows what broke his leg.
``The way the car came 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.''
Elliott said he couldn't even stand up a day after his surgery. But eventually, using a walker, he got 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,'' he said. ``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 kinda get in and out of bed by myself. I guess you take those little minor things you do everyday for granted.''
Elliott says he hopes to get back on the race track for the Brickyard 400 on Aug. 3, but he won't rush it.
``Darrell Waltrip called my when I was in the hospital and indicated that he tried to come back too soon'' after breaking his leg in 1990, Elliott said. ``I just want to get it healed to where I can come back and stay back.''
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 other injury news, Greg Sacks will replace Robert Pressley in Sunday's Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Pressley is recovering from a broken rib suffered in a crash during practice for The Winston Select.
Pressley is scheduled to start in the 600, but Sacks will qualify it and drive in relief during the race. by CNB