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

DATE: MONDAY, May 29, 1995                   TAG: 9506010010
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: HOLIDAY 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: INDIANAPOLIS                                LENGTH: Medium

CRASH HAS FOX FIGHTING FOR HIS LIFE

Sprint car veteran Stan Fox was in critical condition with a severe head injury Sunday after his car slammed into the wall and was cut nearly in half by another racer just seconds after the start of the Indianapolis 500.

Fox was in intensive care at Methodist Hospital after surgery to relieve pressure caused by a subdural hematoma, or bleeding in the brain.

The accident, the first serious multi-car crash at Indy since 1988, began when Fox's car crossed the rumble strips bordering the inside of the track. It veered sharply right, into the concrete wall between the first and second turns, and was hit immediately by Eddie Cheever's car.

Debris spewed everywhere, and five others cars were damaged.

Fox, 42, of Janesville, Wis., was left slumped over in the wreckage, held in by his seatbelts.

`` I was on the outside of Stan. He just turned sharp right and went into the wall,'' Cheever said. ``I couldn't avoid him. He had a big hit.''

Lyn St. James was knocked out of the race when her car struck some of the crash debris.

``I tried to find a hole,'' she said. ``I thought I had found one. I had to go high, but I got hit and then got into the wall and then I was on my own missile.''

Other cars damaged as they drove through the crash included Gil DeFerran, Carlos Guerrero and Eric Bachelart.

It was the most serious of five wrecks during the race. A total of 58, or more than a quarter of the 200 laps, were run under caution flags.

The last driver to die due to a crash in the race was Swede Savage in 1973. The last driver to die at the speedway was Jovy Marcelo of the Philippines, who was killed in practice in 1992.

Fox, mostly a short-track driver, makes irregular starts on the Indy car circuit, usually just at Indianapolis. His Reynard Ford Cosworth qualified at 226.558 mph, giving him the 11th starting position in the 33-car field.

Fox, who works as a salesman when he's not racing, began his career in midget cars in 1971, going on to post more than 60 feature wins on the short tracks.

He competed in five Indy car races in 1985 but failed to qualify at Indianapolis. Fox made his first Indy 500 appearance in 1987, finishing seventh in a car owned by A.J. Foyt. He raced at Indy six more times, never finishing better than eighth.

The crash horrified friends in Fox's hometown of Janesville, Wis., a city of 56,000 about 70 miles west of Milwaukee.

``We're absolutely devastated by it,'' said John Byrum, a bartender at the All American Sports Bar and Grill.

``He's got a lot of fans here. Everybody knows him.''

Keywords:
AUTO RACING