Rick Mears underwent surgery on his injured right wrist on Wednesday and probably will miss the rest of the IndyCar season while he recuperates.
The four-time Indy 500 winner injured the wrist on May 6 during practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and aggravated it in a crash during the May 24 race.
He drove in four of the season`s next seven races, but the pain was getting progressively worse, according to Dr. Andrew J. Vicar.
”He had some injuries at the time that seemed relatively minor, but as time went on, he was having more and more difficulty using that wrist,” said Vicar, who performed the 80-minute outpatient operation at Methodist Hospital. Mears, 40, will remain in Indianapolis at least until Thursday, and then return to his home in Jupiter, Fla., before coming back for another examination and a change of his cast in about two weeks. He will remain in a cast for six to eight weeks and in a splint for another six to eight weeks.
”The prognosis is that he will regain complete use of his wrist,” Vicar said.
Mears, who was 26th at Indianapolis, lasted only 92 of the 250 laps in the Aug. 2 race at Michigan and did not compete last week at Cleveland.
”We saw him here last week and examined the wrist,” Vicar said. ”We ordered a test that revealed he had separated some ligaments.”
