NASCAR’s Roush shakes off injuries from plane crash, returns to the racetrack

Roush back at track after plane crash

BROOKLYN, Mich. — Jack is back.

NASCAR team owner Jack Roush returned to the racetrack on Friday, a little more than two weeks after sustaining injuries in a plane crash. Wearing sunglasses and his trademark Panama-style hat, Roush was present on pit road for qualifying at Michigan International Speedway.

“It’s great medicine,” Roush said in a television interview.

Roush left the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., this week after sustaining facial injuries when he crashed his plane at an air show in Wisconsin last month.

Earlier Friday, Roush Fenway driver Greg Biffle said he wouldn’t be surprised if Roush — an aviation buff who survived another crash in 2002 — showed up. Roush’s automotive company is based outside Detroit.

“You know Jack, the iron horse,” Biffle said. “He’ll want to be here for sure, but whether he’s feeling up to it or not, we’ll just have to wait and see.”

Former Roush driver Mark Martin said he talked to Roush recently, and said the accident resulted from a “conflict with traffic” at the air show.

“He’s in a jet and there’s some very small aircraft at different speeds and those kinds of things,” Martin said. “And he just got in a situation where he was uncertain about how he was going to make it all work, got slow and tried to get slowed down and got a little too slow and whatever. It was one of those situations where it was a bad deal.”

Martin said he still has a close friendship with his former boss.

“We talked for a long time,” Martin said. “It was really good to talk to him. The bond between he and I is really, really strong because of the things that we went through in the beginning of Roush Racing, and as hard as they were, so many of those years, as hard as they were, they were also the kinds of things that bond people for life.”

And Martin is especially glad that Roush, who is used to the hectic schedule of running a racing team and automotive-related business when he isn’t flying, isn’t in the hospital any more.

“I know that’s really tough on him,” Martin said. “I know he’s a tough guy, but he can deal with the injuries probably better than he can deal with being in the hospital, you know? So, I’m glad he’s out, and look forward to seeing him back at the race track real soon.”