
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, July 27, 1993                   TAG: 9307290443
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From Associated Press reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

HOSPITALIZED DRIVER SHOWS PROGRESS

Stock car driver Stanley Smith showed signs of ending his paralysis Monday, but he remained in critical condition in Birmingham, Ala., with a skull fracture sustained during the DieHard 500.

David Smitherman, a spokesman at Carraway Methodist Medical Center, said the 43-year-old driver is regaining some movement on his right side.

"From a medical standpoint he is a little more stable," he said.

Smith was airlifted after the crash at Talladega Superspeedway to the same hospital where driver Davey Allison died July 13 after his helicopter crashed on the track infield. It was the first Winston Cup race of the season for Smith, his 28th career start.

In other auto racing news:

Investigators found no mechanical cause Monday for the accident that killed a driver in Pittsburgh's Vintage Grand Prix. David Kuhn, 50, of Lexington, Mass., crashed Sunday just after completing a 90-degree left turn.

Police investigators who inspected the 1953 MG-TD discovered a swaybar, a suspension piece that enhances performance, had broken. But the broken bar shouldn't have caused the accident and may have been caused by the crash, said Craig Merritt, administrative assistant to Public Safety Director Lou DiNardo.

by CNB