AS REHABILITATION NEARS COMPLETION
Paul Dana has returned to the cockpit over the last several weeks for private testing as he prepares to return to full time competition for the 2006 Indy Racing League IndyCar® Series. Dana, a rookie inthe IndyCar® Series, broke his back during a practice accident while preparingfor this year's Indianapolis 500. The St. Louis native sustained compressionfractures of his T7 and T8 vertebrae which sidelining him for the remainder of the2005 season.
Dana spent three months in a back brace while recovering from his injuries. Inmid-August he was freed from the brace and over the following weeks beganmore aggressive workouts as well as outings in a shifter kart and a FormulaMazda car, a smaller version of an open-wheel car similar in construction to anIndyCar.
Last week he and the crew from Ethanol Hemelgarn Racing did two half-daytests at the nearby Putnam Park road course in western Indiana, using an IndyLights chassis, which is similar in size, weight and power to the IRL's MenardsInfiniti Pro Series. The series of tests at escalating G-loads and physical effortare designed to allow Dr. Terry Trammel to evaluate the progress of hisrehabilitation.
"I'd like to thank Jimmy Kite for taking over this year and doing a good job for theEthanol team. It's great to be back in the car, and great to be back on a roadcourse," Dana said. "I'm really looking forward to doing a few more tests andthen moving on to the IndyCar, hopefully in mid-November."
In addition to his on-track outings, Dana has begun working with renowned driverfitness specialist Jim Leo of PitFit Inc., to speed his progress via intense two-a-day workouts.
"Paul had a decent base level of fitness when he came to us, considering whathe had been through, but we could see he was weak in a number of areas," saidLeo. "He's already made great strides and we are happy to be able to help himreturn to competition."
Dana expects the doctors to give him a clean bill of health for the IndyCar bymid-November at which time he will be able to participate in whatever off-seasontesting is permitted under IRL rules.
