DA MATTA MAKING PROGRESS.(Competition)

Champ Car driver Cristiano da Matta, 32, continues to recover from a crash with a deer Aug. 3 during testing at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.

At a press conference prior to the Denver race (see page 32), Champ Car medical director Chris Pinderski and RuSport president and former driver Jeremy Dale offered an update on the driver. Pinderski was on the scene and helped to stabilize da Matta, who was unconscious from the moment of impact.

Da Matta suffered a right subdural hematoma, which is "bleeding between the brain and a covering of the brain called the dura,'' Pinderski said. "When you have one of these injuries, there usually is an associated brain injury underneath. The bleeding is fairly easy to take care of; however, the brain suffers an injury on a more microscopic and metabolic level, which takes time to heal.

"The first several days he was heavily sedated,'' Pinderski continued at the pre-Denver press conference. "They didn't want Cristiano to have any movements. It really limits his brain activity, to let his brain start to recover. After approximately three to four days this sedation was removed, and currently he is under no sedation in the intensive care unit at the hospital. Each day he has progressed a little bit more.''

However, da Matta was still unconscious at AutoWeek's Monday deadline. Pinderski said he responds to stimuli such as a shoulder pinch-a good sign-but does not answer commands such as "Open your eyes.'' He will remain at the Theda Clark Medical Center in Wisconsin for at least two more weeks, and Pinderski says it is difficult to predict what the outcome will be, calling it a "day-to-day process.''

Many drivers have suffered similar injuries and recovered. But there is no doubt da Matta won't be back for the four remaining Champ Car races this year, and possibly even 2007. So expect RuSport to name a substitute driver before the Aug. 27 race at Montreal.

Rumors point in two directions: Either RuSport will name several drivers, each with a tie to a race-Canadian Patrick Carpentier for Montreal and Mexican Michel Jourdain Jr. for Mexico City, for example-or select one driver to finish the season and test the new Panoz Champ Car that will replace the Lola next year.