Columnist Brian Hilderbrand: Crash injury puts Lasoski behind the eight ball

Wednesday, July 31, 2002 | 9:38 a.m.

Brian Hilderbrand covers motor sports for the Las Vegas Sun. His motor sports notebook appears Friday. He can be reached at bh@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4089.

Defending Pennzoil World of Outlaws champion Danny Lasoski sustained a concussion and bruises to his lung, heart, shoulder and ankle in a violent crash during a hot-lap session Friday in Mechanicsburg, Pa.

But that didn't stop the 43-year-old from attempting to race Monday night when the WoO series visited New Egypt (N.J.) Speedway.

Lasoski, released from the hospital Monday morning, took some practice laps in his Tony Stewart-owned winged sprint car that evening but had to turn the ride over to Johnny Herrera. Herrera was the third-fastest qualifier and finished seventh in the "A" feature.

As a result of his injuries, Lasoski took a big hit in the WoO points standings. He held an eight-point lead over Steve Kinser going into the Mechanicsburg race but now trails Kinser by 144 points. Both Lasoski and Kinser have 11 feature wins this season.

Equally disappointing for Lasoski was that he will have to sit out Saturday's International Race of Champions finale at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Although he was last in points among the 11 drivers in the all-star series, Lasoski was enjoying competing against stars from the NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch, Craftsman Truck and Indy Racing League series.

"I don't know what hurts more -- my body or the fact that I have to miss this final race at the Brickyard," Lasoski said. "But when the reality of how banged up I am began to sink in, I knew somebody else was going to have to do it for me."

Winston Cup regular Ken Schrader will replace Lasoski in Saturday's IROC finale, which helped soften the blow.

"We've been such great friends for so long, knowing that Kenny is going to run the race for me takes a little of the edge off of not being able to do it myself," Lasoski said.

Fernandez sustained a severe bruise to his right buttock and an insignificant hairline fracture of his left pelvis in a crash involving Patrick Carpentier and Alex Tagliani of Las Vegas and Bruno Junqueira.

"Obviously, I am in a lot of pain in my hip and lower back," Fernandez said. "The impact of the crash penetrated the chassis. Having that Kevlar seat saved me. I was compressed inside the cockpit. It was hard to breathe and extremely painful. With the impact to the side of the car, my left hip got compressed.

"My internal organs are fine. I am very sore and my neck is sore as well. Dr. (Terry) Trammell (CART's chief orthopedic consultant) will evaluate my progress at the end of the week and will make a decision as to when I will be able to drive."

The SAFER (Steel And Foam Energy Reduction) Barrier will include an extension for clockwise race traffic, said Charlie Whiting, FIA race director and safety delegate. Race traffic on the IMS oval travels in a counterclockwise direction.

Turn 13 of the 2.606-mile road course also is Turn 1 for the 2.5-mile oval. The SAFER Barrier was installed in all four turns of the Speedway before this year's Indianapolis 500.

FIA will release the official schedule later this year.

"We signed our letter of intent at Long Beach on Friday and Saturday, in qualifying, I crashed the car and that was the first time it actually hurt. That one hurt, thinking that we just bought a crashed car."