7/3/2008

Mike Ward, general manager of Long-McArthur Ford Lincoln Mercury in Salina, is in intensive care in a St. Louis hospital after reportedly suffering a head injury Saturday night at a racetrack across the Mississippi River in Madison, Ill.

Ward was taken to St. Louis University Hospital in St. Louis “in the middle of the night Saturday,” said a nurse there. As of Thursday afternoon, he was listed in stable condition, but he remained in intensive care.

The Madison Police Department had no report on the incident that led to Ward’s injury.

Ward was reportedly at the Gateway International Raceway in Madison, with fellow Salinan Shawn Jennings, who was going through time trials hoping to qualify to be on an upcoming episode of the Speed Channel’s “Pinks All Out.”

Ward reportedly fell out of a cart at the speedway when it made a sudden turn and hit his head on the pavement.