Veteran Vitor Meira and rookie Raphael Matos crashed in the closing laps of Sunday’s Indianapolis 500, sending Meira to the hospital.
Meira, last year’s runner-up, was taken to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis for further evaluation. Track officials said Meira was alert and moving all extremities, but he also was complaining of severe lower back pain. The Associated Press
Veteran Vitor Meira has broken two vertebra in his lower back and will spend at least two days in an Indianapolis hospital after a scary crash late in the Indy 500. The Southern Ledger
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Vitor Meira will need some time to recover from the Indianapolis 500.
The 2008 runner-up survived a dangerous fire in the pits and later broke two vertebrae in his lower back during a frightening crash in Sunday’s race. IndyCar officials said he will spend the next two days at Methodist Hospital, where doctors plan to fit him for a back brace. He does not need surgery.
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“It was just an unfortunate incident,” rookie Raphael Matos said after colliding with Meira. “We had a good car, and the team had worked so hard. It was just unfortunate to end like that.”
The Meira-Matos incident was the most serious crash on a day full of them.
In all, 10 cars went out of the race in accidents, and an 11th, Marco Andretti’s No. 26, eventually left because of handling problems after returning from an earlier crash.
In the closing laps, Meira and Matos were running side-by-side heading into the first turn when the two locked wheels. Matos hit the SAFER barrier and stopped in the middle of the track, resulting in a bruised right knee.
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Meira, by far, got the worst of it. His car slid along the wall - two wheels on the ground and two wheels above the concrete wall - before finally flipping over on four wheels and stopping.
And that was after the car was engulfed in flames on pit road. The Canadian Press
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