David Pook released from hospital.

David Pook, the 30-year-old son of Championship Auto Racing Teams President and CEO Christopher R. Pook, was released from Good Samaritan Hospital in Phoenix this afternoon and is traveling back to his home in Long Beach, Calif., after being treated for a severe neck injury sustained in a private testing accident late Thursday at Phoenix International Raceway.

Pook sustained a clean fracture of his second cervical vertebra in the accident that occurred in a late afternoon test run on the one-mile Phoenix oval. Pook was testing his NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour Chevrolet stock car that suffered a suspected steering failure. He was travelling approximately 150 miles per hour down the front straightaway at the time of the suspected equipment failure, which resulted in a nearly head-on collision with the Turn 1 wall. He was wearing a HANS Device.

Pook has been fitted with a "halo" external support device although his injury did not require surgery. Although he remains bruised and sore, Pook has been awake and alert since the incident and remains in good spirits. He is expected to wear the "halo" for up to three months.

"We are incredibly touched and grateful for the out-pouring of sympathy and support that the racing community, literally from around the world, has shown for David and all in our family," the elder Pook said today. "We feel very, very fortunate that David survived an impact as big as it was with only a fracture. I want to particularly express our gratitude to David's crew chief Carl "Junior" Joiner who built a unique and special seat that held in place during the complete impact, as well as the HANS Device that played a major role in David's survival."

Pook is a veteran race driver who has competed in both the CART Toyota Atlantic Championship and the Dayton Indy Lights Championship. He also drove a Van Diemen RF95 to the 1995 SCCA Formula Continental national championship.