SURFERS PARADISE, Australia -- Rookie Mario Dominguez won the rain-shortened Honda Indy 300 Sunday, which started with a major crash that sent two drivers to the hospital.

	Adrian Fernandez is taken by stretcher off the track after several cars crashed at the start of the rain-soaked Honda Indy 300.

Dominguez, who was involved in the accident, pitted four times once racing started. The event was stopped on the 40th lap because of a two-hour time limit. Patrick Carpentier was second, followed by Paul Tracy, Kenny Brack and Tony Kanaan.

Adrian Fernandez and Tora Takagi were carried off on stretchers after the starting-line accident. Fernandez broke two vertebrae; Takagi had a broken pelvis and bruised hip. Both were released from the hospital. Fernandez will not race next week in Fontana, Calif., while Takagi's status for Fontana is uncertain.

Dominguez, who had led a grand total of one lap in 16 previous races, took advantage of a rule instituted this year that forces drivers to pit at least every 20 laps. That rule prevented Michael Andretti and Jimmy Vasser from having a chance of winning, while Dominguez was able to stay on the track to the end.

CART champion Cristiano da Matta was eighth, Andretti ninth, and Vasser 12th.

"I just feel like the luckiest guy in the world," said Dominguez, who led one lap at Rockingham, England last month. "That accident at the beginning was terrible. I couldn't see a thing."

Dominguez accepted his trophy in near-darkness on a floodlit stage in the rain. It was the first win for the Herdez Competition team in their 17th year on the CART circuit.

Heavy rain and poor visibility forced much of the race to be run under yellow caution flags, including the final 30 laps. Safety crews tried, with little success, to brush water off the track.

"We couldn't see anything," Carpentier said. "Everyone was crashing all around. Things were flying everywhere. It was very serious."

After the opening crash, in which nine cars were totaled, CART officials scheduled a full restart, meaning drivers not injured in the accident could use backup cars.

Before the scheduled 50-lap restart, drivers met with CART president Chris Pook to discuss track safety. The restart with 16 drivers began nearly 90 minutes after the accident and under a caution flag for the first three laps because of the wet track.

The opening crash came when cars driven by Vasser and Fernandez touched and spun, blocking the course and causing a pileup that Dominguez and Andretti didn't see until they came through the area at high speed.

Michel Jourdain also was in the accident, along with Carpentier, Alex Tagliani and Dario Franchitti. Andretti and Carpentier ran from their cars to help Vasser, whose car flipped.