Giaffone

JOLIET, Ill. --For the first few days after the crash that broke his right leg and pelvis, Felipe Giaffone was certain he wouldn't race again this season.

The pain was excruciating, and he couldn't even raise his foot off the floor. How could he drive a race car?

"Then the third day, I was like, 'Maybe I might come back,''' Giaffone said Friday. "Then the fourth day, I thought, 'I can come back this year.'''

When doctors told him he could be ready to race again in as little as two months, Giaffone pulled out a calendar. The race Aug. 24 in Nazareth, Pa., was probably too soon. The race Sept. 21 in Fontana, Calif., seemed too late.

But right in the middle was Sunday's Delphi Indy 300.

"I put a goal in my mind,'' he said. "Since that first week, I had in my mind it would be Chicago.''

Almost nine weeks after his crash July 6 in the Kansas 300, Giaffone is back. He was the sixth-fastest in practice Friday, doing 222.536 mph in the afternoon session after Chicagoland Speedway warmed up and speeds climbed.

Tomas Scheckter turned in the fastest practice lap Friday, running 223.810. Richie Hearn did 223.511, and Kenny Brack was next at 222.870.

"It's good to be back,'' Giaffone said, a smile crossing his face. "I'm coming back at the right time. It's not too soon, it's not too late.

"It's even better when you come back and the car is good. All I'm focusing on is just to first of all, finish the race. Then, we'll see the last 10-15 laps.''

The IRL rookie of the year in 2001, Giaffone won for the first time last year. He was fourth in the points standings, with five top-three finishes and 12 in the top 10.

The Brazilian looked as if he was going to build on that this year with two third-places finishes in the first three races. But then the season went sour.

He was knocked out of the Indianapolis 500 -- one of his favorite races -- after just six laps because of electrical problems. He crashed in the next race, and finished out of the top five in the next two.

Then came the race in Kansas. Giaffone was passing Dan Wheldon on the 56th lap when his right front tire made contact with Wheldon's left rear tire. Both cars spun and hit the wall.

"I knew there was something wrong with my leg,'' Giaffone said. "I felt pain all over the place. I wasn't sure what really happened, but I was pretty sure something was broken.''

Giaffone was cut out of his car and taken to the Kansas University Medical Center. He was moved to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis the next morning, and had surgery that afternoon to repair his broken right leg and pelvis.

Doctors inserted a metal, L-shaped plate to repair the broken bones, but he didn't need a cast. Physical therapists wasted little time getting him up and moving.

"I thought, 'There's no way.' But it's actually really good,'' Giaffone said. "Because if you go by feeling you're going to be in bed for a month, the recovery would be forever.''

Giaffone spent a week in the hospital and another week in a rehabilitation center. He then went to Brazil to be treated by Dr. Moises Cohen, who specializes in sports injuries.

For six or seven hours a day, Cohen and his staff had Giaffone doing exercises to improve his side-to-side range of motion and strengthen his pelvis and upper leg muscles.

"I didn't enjoy Brazil,'' he said with a laugh. "Normally I enjoy going back to Brazil. But this was just work, work, work.''

The hard work paid off, though. When Giaffone climbed in a car for the first time since the accident Aug. 27, he ran faster than 216 mph in a testing session at Chicagoland.

"Obviously it was a big day for him,'' said Peter Parrott, the manager for Giaffone's Mo Nunn Racing team. "And strangely enough, it was probably our most productive test of the year.''

Because Giaffone's weakened leg makes it difficult for him to hold the pedal flat to the floor, his crew moved it closer to his seat. The throttle was lightened, too, for the same reason.

And when Giaffone gets in his car, he can't swing his right leg over the side like he used to. He has to sit on the edge of the car, pick up the leg and place it into the cockpit.

"He's feeling pretty good,'' Parrott said. "So as long as he can get in and out of his car, he's OK.''

While Giaffone knows he has no chance at the IRL title, he's still hoping for a strong finish, starting with Sunday's race.

"I'm just anxious to be back,'' Giaffone said. "We don't have any pressure, so these next three races could be good.''