MAY 2, 2007

Stuck on the mend

Former Grand Prix driver Hans Stuck is now out of hospital after a sizeable accident at the weekend during a race on the old Nurburgring. Stuck (56) was at the wheel of a BMW Z4 when he went off the road while passing a slower car and hit a stationary car beside the track. Stuck was taken to the Bundeswehrzentralkrankenhaus in Koblenz where doctors discovered a broken vertebrae, cracked breastbone and bruising to the heart. The doctors did not, however, need to operate and Stuck has now returned home and hopes to be back in action in June in order to take part in the annual Nurburgring 24 Hours, an event he has won several times.

Stuck is the son of pre-war Auto Union ace Hans Stuck Sr, and made his name as a touring car driver for Ford and BMW in the early 1970s. He switched to single-seaters and after showing well in F2 made his F1 debut with March in 1974. In 1977 he joined Brabham and scored third places in the German and Austrian Grands Prix and was leading the rain-soaked US Grand Prix at Watkins Glen when he crashed . In 1978 he moved to Shadow and ended up with ATS before leaving F1 in 1979 to race for the Rothmans Porsche sports car team. He won the World Sportscar title in 1985 and the Le Mans 24 Hours in 1986 and 1987. he went on to win titles in TransAm and DTM. When not racing Stuck works as a TV commentator in F1.