Whatever happened to Pablo Perez

This six-month IndyCar winter vacation provides ample opportunity to catch up on human interest stories, like for example the latest status of Pablo Perez.

As you may recall, Perez was running near the front in his Indy Pro debut at Homestead last March when a freak accident caused his car to launch into the catch fence a pretty much disintegrate. Later reports indicated Perez had survived but his lower extremities had been greatly injured, and since then the only update had been that he was at Indianapolis in May and that people were surprised to see he still had toes.

Well, the ubiquitous Allan Brewer has finally caught up with Perez, and the story is simultaneously upbeat and melancholy. It would seem his dream of racing in The 500 is now gone, but he's still trying to find ways to enjoy a career in racing. Perez isn't too different from hundreds of other drivers who have also suffered debilitating injuries on the race track, but that doesn't make his story any less meaningful.

Read it at IndyProRacer.com.