Roush released from Alabama hospital

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- NASCAR team owner Jack Roush made the latest step in his recovery from severe injuries suffered in an experimental aircraft accident April 19 when he was transferred to the University of Michigan Medical Center on Wednesday.

Jack Roush (left) with Mark Martin Credit: ASP

A Roush Industries spokesperson on Friday said Roush, 60, was preparing to leave the hospital for his Michigan home “by the middle of next week” after undergoing as many as five days of physical therapy at his current facility.

Roush was transferred by air ambulance -- a jet airplane -- on Wednesday from the University of Alabama-Birmingham Medical Center.

Roush, who had been in various departments in that facility since he was brought there in critical condition on the night of the accident, was upgraded from satisfactory to good condition on Wednesday morning in Birmingham.

Roush checked into the U-M Medical Center’s physical therapy department on Thursday and was ready to begin his program Friday, Roush Industries’ Lori Halbeisen said. He planned to work on flexibility in his badly damaged left leg, which had multiple fractures with a variety of metal supports inserted; and strength in his other muscles, she said.

Halbeisen said doctors felt it would be as much as six weeks before Roush would be able to put significant weight on the injured limb.

Former U.S. Marine Larry Hicks, who single handedly extricated Roush from his overturned aircraft in the Palos Verdes Estates Lake, in Troy, Ala., and resuscitated him before other rescue workers arrived, will attend his first NASCAR race at this weekend’s events at Richmond International Raceway.

Hicks will be a guest of the U.S. Marines, who sponsor Bobby Hamilton Jr.’s Ford in the NASCAR Busch Series.

Halbeisen said the Roush organization was waiting on word from the team owner as to exactly the appropriate way to honor Hicks, 52, a recovering cancer patient who works as an Alabama game warden and conservation officer.

NASCAR president Mike Helton, who visited Roush in Alabama Tuesday with International Speedway Corporation president Jim France, told Roush Hicks would be introduced at a drivers’ meeting this weekend in Richmond.