Sports Illustrated
Monday May 21, 2007
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) -Paul Tracy was cleared to drive Monday and will return to Forsythe Racing for the June 10 Mazda Champ Car Grand Prix of Portland after missing the last two races with a back injury.
The 2003 series champion broke a bone in his lower back during practice for the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach last month. He began rehabilitation almost immediately and was given the OK to drive after a checkup in Indianapolis last week with Dr. Terry Trammell.
"It's been very frustrating,'' Tracy said. "We started the year with a strong result in Vegas and we knew we were starting to build momentum, but this injury completely interrupted our plans for the championship. It's going to be tough, obviously, coming from behind in the points, but all we can do is go out there, win races, collect as many points as we can and see what happens.''
Tracy, 15th in Champ Car points, plans to test his car Thursday and Friday at Quebec's Mont-Tremblant Circuit in his native Canada.
Forsythe also said Oriol Servia, who finished second and fourth subbing for Tracy, would remain with the team at Portland, the fourth of 16 races on the Champ Car schedule.