SPEEDWAY, Ind. — Stefan Wilson returned to Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Sunday ahead of the Indianapolis 500, just four days after undergoing surgery for injuries suffered in a practice crash.
The IndyCar driver had surgery Wednesday night at Methodist Hospital "with a T10-T12 Posterior fusion and internal fixation of the fracture" to his 12th thoracic vertebrae, Dreyer & Reinbold Racing/Cusick Motorsports said in a statement.
Thursday morning, Wilson tweeted a video update from his hospital bed with the hashtag #IsItMay2024Yet.
On Sunday, he returned to the track and spoke with 13Sports Director Dave Calabro.
"It's a long road to recovery, but it's a journey I'm ready to take," Wilson said. "It's about a three-month process. But the goal was to get out here today to see the team," Wilson said.
Wilson was taken by ambulance to the hospital Monday after a heavy crash with Katherine Legge in practice, the first wreck of the two-week buildup to the Indy 500.
Wilson was immobilized and wearing a neck brace but gave a quick thumbs-up after the safety team spent about 10 minutes carefully removing the British driver from his car. Legge, a fellow Brit, climbed from her crumpled car on her own.
Monday evening, Wilson's team tweeted that he would not be allowed to compete in 107th Indianapolis 500 due to the injuries.
Graham Rahal was announced as the replacement for Wilson in Sunday's race.
