 |
 |
|
 |
|
Elliott Bristol Q & A Bill Elliott, driver of the No. 94 McDonald's Taurus, will not race this evening after fracturing his left kneecap Tuesday in a home accident. Elliott spoke about the accident and how he is going to handle the coming weeks of his recovery earlier today at Bristol Motor Speedway. IS THIS YOUR WAY OF GETTING OUT OF FUTURE HOUSEHOLD DUTIES? "It sure does look that way. It's pretty ironic what you do in life. I've been around a long time and done a lot of things -- and done a lot of goofy things -- but this is probably one of the worst. It's one of the oddest deals I've ever seen, I just got off-balance and tripped over a stupid garden hose that was coiled up. I thought I had my balance and when I went to make the next step (Elliott was carrying a bag of fertilizer), my left foot was caught way back and I went right down on my knee. I fell forward and there was nothing I could do." HOW DOES THIS COMPARE TO OTHER INJURIES YOU'VE HAD? "Oh Lord, this is like nothing compared to what I did before. (Dr. James) Andrews does a good job. He knew my history and we just felt like that was the place to go. He knew everything about me and he felt comfortable with me just coming on over (to Birmingham, Alabama) and saying, 'We'll do it right here tonight and get it over with.'" SOME MIGHT SAY WHY EVEN COME HERE TO BRISTOL? "Well, for several reasons. I wanted to get the guys motivated here because we came up and tested and felt like we had a pretty good race car. We did a lot of stuff and learned a lot running around here and I wanted to get started with these guys here at Wake Forest and MRO (the rehabilitation unit that travels with the circuit every week) to get me more into the rehab side of the deal and see what my options are and go from there." AT WHAT POINT DID YOU FEEL YOU COULDN'T DRIVE TONIGHT OR IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND DO YOU STILL FEEL YOU CAN? "I'm thinking I probably could if I had to, but let's look at it realistically. I'm not good in the points (16th coming into tonight's race), so that's gonna be irrelevant. It's gonna be a negative if I start the car and they run a distance without a caution because I couldn't go long and try to hold this leg up. It would be swelled so big that it would be bigger than me before I got out, if I had to go a long period of time so that would be a negative. Then, if you came in under green you'd lose three or four laps at the least trying to change drivers, so from my standpoint, the smartest thing I can do is come up here and get my rehab in place while also giving these guys some moral support. I want to get this thing healed and come back and race, but this is so much different than a cracked this or a sprained that. Like the doctors were saying here, if it wasn't in this joint you could throw a pin in it and go race, but it's just a whole different deal. I broke the kneecap in multiple places and it's just a bad deal." WHAT'S THE PLAN AS FAR AS DRIVING FROM HERE ON OUT? "I'm just gonna take it from week-to-week and see how I feel and see how things go and kind of go from there. I want to be back. Physically, I feel great. I mean, this has been nothing compared to my hip. This absolutely hasn't even bothered me other than the aggravation of they won't let you do anything with your leg. I can't put any bearing weight down on it, I can't bend it more than 30 degrees and if I do, the problem I'm gonna run into is I'll break the kneecap back apart and I'll be that much farther out of the ballgame. So right now I just need to get back together and get going and see where I'm gonna end up." YOU PICKED DAVID GREEN TO DRIVE, SO YOU HAVE GREAT CONFIDENCE IN HIM. "Absolutely. I think David will do a good job. I think from the standpoint that he runs well here and at least you put him in the car and you let him go knowing you're gonna give him the best opportunity. If I go out there and fiddle around or go out there and get into something else and tear this leg up even worse it would put him and the team in a negative position. Sure, there might be a situation where it would all work out and everything would be OK, but looking at the worse case scenario with the way my luck's been going, I'd be better off just to forget about it -- get what I can do done here and go on." YOU PROBABLY THOUGHT YOUR BAD LUCK WAS JUST ON THE RACE TRACK, RIGHT? "Obviously it followed me home."
In-Car Radios | Silly Season | Forum | Photo Gallery | Newsletter | In the Pits ©Copyright 2000 Race 2 Win |