INDYCAR: Newgarden 'remarkable,' surgeon says

Terry Trammell has seen just about everything during his 35 years of putting racecar drivers back together and back on track. The longtime series surgeon has put many a driver back together and kept their careers on track, starting with Danny Ongais in 1981. But Josef Newgarden's amazing performance while injured left the orthopedic magician shaking his head.

"The kid is amazing," Trammell said of the 25-year-old IndyCar star, who fractured his right clavicle and right hand in a nasty flip at Texas Speedway June 12 but returned to racing 12 days later at Road America.

"A week after surgery he's back in the car and a couple weeks later he's back in victory lane. For all my years he wins the prize for the fastest guy back in competition and, frankly, it's remarkable."

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Trammell, retired as a surgeon but employed by IndyCar as its safety consultant, saw Newgarden right after Dr. Kevin Scheid put a plate and 13 screws in his shoulder.

"The first thing I told him was that we might be able to get him back by Iowa but he was never going to make Road America. I didn't think he'd be able to handle an IndyCar because his hand strength was nowhere close to normal.

"But he was determined to try and he did everything that needed to be done. He told me when we got to Elkhart Lake not to worry because if he couldn't do it, he'd be honest and tell me.

"Well it hurt like hell, but he sucked it up and finished eighth and I was impressed."

Newgarden led a record 282 of 300 laps Sunday at Iowa Speedway to win his first IndyCar Series oval race, and Trammell, the man who helped A.J. Foyt, Rick Mears, Derek Daly, Tommy Kendall, Jeff Andretti and Nelson Piquet walk again following devastating injuries, was even more dazzled.

"I watched his steering input on a computer and he was so precise. Turning left all day with those G forces and he never turned the wheel more than one or two inches all day," continued Trammell, also illustrating Newgarden's great-handling Fuzzy's Chevrolet. "And his hand was still plenty weak, so that made it even more impressive. He drove like a man possessed and never made a mistake and it was remarkable to watch.

"Josef is an amazing kid and he's going to be around for a long time. We need more like him."