“Beverly Hills 90210” heartthrob Jason Priestley broke his back yesterday when his race car slammed into a wall head-on at nearly 180 mph during a practice run at the Kentucky Speedway.
Priestley also suffered a head injury and fractures to both feet in the one-car crackup in Sparta, Ky., where he was preparing for yesterday’s Kentucky 100.
Witnesses said the 32-year-old actor appeared to have driven through “oil dry,” an absorbent substance spread on the track 10 minutes earlier to soak up oil leaked by another car, when he lost control of the vehicle.
All drivers had been warned to avoid that spot, said Indy Racing League Vice President Fred Nation.
Priestley was airlifted to the University of Kentucky Hospital in Lexington, where he was listed in serious condition and undergoing tests.
He was described as “stable and responding” by Henry Bock, medical services director for the Indy Racing League.
Doctors said there was no sign of paralysis.
Bock said Priestley had fractured one of his vertebrae, but was “moving all his extremities” and there was no indication that his spinal cord itself had been damaged.
He said the actor’s head injury appeared to be a concussion, noting, “We have no indication from any of the scans … that he has any further damage to his head.”
The crackup was Priestley’s second in recent months. In April, he crashed a powerboat during a Miami race, leaving a crew member with cracked ribs.
Yesterday’s crash occurred as the Canadian native was coming out of the speedway’s second turn.
Witnesses said his car struck the track’s outside wall, and after sliding along, went across the track and slammed into the inside wall.
“When he came around and hit that oil dry, that’s what got him loose,” said John Stagge, 47, of Cincinnati, who saw the crash.
Former Indy 500 winner Arie Luyendyk also witnessed the crackup.
“He got sideways, and he corrected and then shot off the track. He turned right into the wall, and his first impact was basically head-on,” said Luyendyk, whose son Arie Jr. competes with Priestley in the Infiniti Pro Series race circuit.
Priestley, who had qualified to start the race in second position, behind A.J. Foyt IV, has raced cars since 1991 and won his first competition in 1998. He crashed a car into a ditch during a 1995 race but recovered to finish the event.
Last year, he completed an alcohol-counseling program that he had been ordered to attend when he pleaded no contest to driving under the influence.
With Forrest Berkshire in Sparta, Ky., and Post Wire Services