Out For The Rest Of The Year?


By Andrew Cutler
May 26 2009

It has been revealed that AJ Foyt Enterprises driver Vitor Meira suffered two broken lumbar vertebrae in his lower back as a result of his collision in the closing laps of the Indy 500. Doctors are saying that the popular Brazilian driver is looking at four to six months of recovery time.

If it is the latter, Vitor will effectively be finished driving yet this season.

Meira was involved in a spectacular-looking wreck on lap 173 when his car and that of rookie Raphael Matos touched wheels going into Turn One. That contact sent Vitor's car backwards into the SAFER barrier, which it then proceeded to travel down on it's undertray with the chassis perpendicular to the track surface.

There is already much speculation as to who the team will tab to replace Meira, with names such as Townsend Bell - who finished fourth at Indy in a "one-off" appearance for KVRT -, Paul Tracy, Tomas Scheckter, Buddy Rice And AJ Foyt IV among the names being manetioned. The next race is this upcomming Sunday at Milwaukee. 

Out For The Rest Of The Year?
Posted by: Indy Racing League (IP Logged)
Date: 26/05/2009 11:31

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Re: Out For The Rest Of The Year?
Posted by: sessions (IP Logged)
Date: 27/05/2009 01:46

From the way it sounds he snapped the flanges of the vertebrae which are imbedded in muscle travelling up and down the spine.
Ralf Schumacher experienced the same deal at Indy. If they don't go in and operate that's usually the case. Rest and more rest is the the only healing process.
Tracy or TB would be a good replacement, but Paul would offer up some exceptional excitement when considering the two.

sessions

Re: Out For The Rest Of The Year?
Posted by: gturner (IP Logged)
Date: 27/05/2009 04:09

I'd love to see Tracy in the car if for no other reason than there's a 50-50 chance he'd end out in a fight with AJ if things didn't go well.

It is a shame to see this happen to Vitor, though. The fire now makes me appreciate just how big those invisible methanol fires used to be. The announcers did make a good point that he was lucky in the crash that the car flipped up with the floor against the wall and not the roll bar. I'd hate to imagine what would happen if the car slid with the roll bar resting on top of the SAFER barrier.

Re: Out For The Rest Of The Year?
Posted by: IndyAndy (IP Logged)
Date: 27/05/2009 04:50

Don't look for PT in that car: He says that he has a deal with KVRT for the two Canadian rounds. I am just waiting for official confirmation before I run a story on it.

**********EDIT***********

Wow! I guess that this is what I get for not checking the IndyCar website after work, before I get on Sportnetwork! Paul Tracy is indeed going to drive the #14 car at Milwaukee. (Sm53)

http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e114/IndyAndy/sig_.jpg



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 2009:05:27:05:00:06 by IndyAndy.

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