Scott Goodyear's Homecoming
Welcome Back
By Jim DeFord©1996 SpeedCenter Internet Publishing, Inc.
VANCOUVER, Washington (July 2, 1996) - Scott Goodyear will finally plant his butt back in his IndyCar for the first time since mid-March.Goodyear snapped his back in a practice accident in Rio and ended up being shipped back to the U.S. via Federal Express overnight delivery.
"It was somewhat scary," Goodyear commented, "lying in a hospital in Rio De Janeiro just waiting for the feeling to come back in my right foot and right leg."
Dr. Terry Trammell is infamous for installing an internal caution flag into these highly focused, high-energy drivers. In addition to Goodyear, Dr. Trammell has guided such drivers as Rick Mears, Jeff Andretti, Danny Sullivan and Scott Pruett, just to name a few, through horrific injuries, painful rehablilitation and a return to the sport they love, and life itself.
Dr. Trammell's accomplishments are second to none in the world of Sports Medicine.
It was orginally thought that Scott would race at Detroit, but due to the extreme bumpiness of the track that idea was nixed.
Scott's first appearance in a race car since the Rio accident was at Le Mans, where his team finished a very respectable 3rd place, podium finish. Though many expected him back at the non-bumpy Portland track, Goodyear opted to not race there due to "lack of testing."
And The Extreme Bumpy track at Burkefront Lake was not even considered, for the same reason.
Nevertheless, Scott Goodyear will be racing at Toronto and in spite of the course changes, he will be totally focused. He will be on an "even-keel" with the rest of the IndyCar drivers due to the course change and in a better stance for a true comeback, especially after recent testing at Putnam Park.
"I'm smart enough to realize we're entering a race when the season is more than half over," Goodyear said. "Everybody is finely tuned to their car and their team and feeling as one."
"We've got a lot of work ahead of us in Toronto. We hope we can get rid of as many of the cobwebs as we can. Particularly helpful is the similarity between Putnam Park and the Molson Indy's race course."
"Putnam, we believe, is probably geared more toward a road course like Toronto," Goodyear said. "We felt that was probably better for me to get back up to speed, get used to the car and being able to throw the car around like you would on a road course."
Welcome back, Scott.
