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NASCAR-WCUP: CAT Scan Clears Park to Drive After Homestead Testing Wreck

16 September 1998

Mooresville, N.C. -- #1 Pennzoil Monte Carlo driver Steve Park will drive in Sunday's NASCAR Winston Cup race in Dover, Del.

Results from a late Monday evening CAT scan showed Park sustained no head injury after an afternoon testing accident at the Metro-Dade Homestead Motorsports Complex in Homestead, Fla. Park was released from the hospital Monday night after the CAT scan as well as X-rays on his neck and back.

Park crashed in turn three of the 1.5-mile oval and walked to the ambulance under his own power. Track medical crews transported Park to Homestead General Hospital for observation when he appeared disoriented.

"Obviously the CAT scan report is good news," said Ty Norris, motorsports director at Dale Earnhardt Inc. "Steve was shaken up pretty good in the wreck and today he said he's bruised and sore all over, but he's going to be fine. Steve will race this weekend."

Park was at Homestead assisting the DEI Busch team in its preparation for the season ending Jiffy Lube 300 on Nov. 15 and the Nov. 28 Winston Cup exhibition race at the similarly configured Twin Ring Motegi track in Japan.

While Dale Earnhardt Jr. tested the team's Busch car, Park was shaking down the Winston Cup car. The accident cancelled plans for Dale Jr. to test the Winston Cup car on Tuesday. The Japanese race marks Dale Jr.'s first appearance in a Winston Cup car.

Park and the DEI team returned to North Carolina on Tuesday.