INDYCAR veteran Emerson Fittipaldi, who underwent neck surgery after a horror crash in the Michigan 500, was yesterday told he will be able to race again. Doctors at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami spent five hours repairing a fractured cervical vertebra.
The 49 year old Brazilian broke the bone at the base of his neck on Sunday in a crash after the first lap of the Marlboro 500 at Michigan International Speedway.
He was transferred to Florida by air ambulance and, following surgery, his doctors say he could be racing again by the autumn.
"He had one severe injury. It's close to miraculous that he wasn't paralysed," said neurosurgeon Barth Green, who led a team of specialists in the operation.
Green said Fillipaldi was "very lucky - I imagine he'll have just about complete use of his head and neck".
Fittipaldi also was left with a partially collapsed lung and a blood clot in his back, but was up and about yesterday morning.
Neurologist Stephen Olvey, who tended to Fittipaldi at the time of the crash, then directed the medical team that brought the racer from Michigan, said: "He will be able to race again. However, that's up to him.
"But he could very well race next season, later this year. The minimum time he'll be back racing is three months."
On Sunday, Fillipaldi's car smashed against a wall, spilling fuel and trailing flames for hundreds of feet. Rescuers took 15 minutes to extract Fittipaldi from the wreckage.