Crawford Upset After Learning of Prognosis--From Newspaper

INDIANAPOLIS —  Driver Jim Crawford has three steel rods between the knee and ankle of his right leg, the result of a crash here in 1987, and learned the other day that they might be permanent.

In a story in the Indianapolis Star, surgeon Terry Trammell was asked about Crawford’s crash in practice here earlier this month.

“When the call came over my radio, it sounded a lot worse than it turned out,” Trammell was quoted as saying. “I prayed it wasn’t his legs because he’s still got three steel rods in his right leg and I’ve got no idea how to get them out if they get bent.”

Said a slightly irritated Crawford when asked by an unsuspecting reporter if the rods were permanent: “According to today’s paper, there’s no way to get them out. He’s put them in there and now there’s no way to get them out. It’s a hell of a way to to find out, isn’t it?”