Will Jason Priestley Race Cars Again?

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/13/2002 at 01:00 PM EDT

Don't count Jason Priestley out just yet. The actor, who continues to recover from serious spine and head injuries sustained Sunday when he crashed into a wall at 180 mph in his race car, is "a fighter, one of the toughest little guys I know," his racing team manager, Jim Freudenberg, told the Associated Press. "He doesn't give up easily. If I'm going to keep him out of a race car, it's going to be a fight. That's just the way he is." Priestley was outfitted with a back brace Monday, the same day that doctors at the University of Kentucky Hospital said that he is expected to recover fully after weeks of healing and rehabilitation. The former "Beverly Hills, 90210" hunk suffered a broken back, a moderate concussion, a broken nose, fractures in both feet and a host of cuts and bruises on his face and neck during practice for an Infiniti Pro Series race at the speedway in Sparta, Ky. He was airlifted to the hospital, where he remained in serious but stable condition as of Tuesday morning, the AP reports. Dr. Andrew Bernard told reporters at a press conference that Priestley would likely not require spinal surgery but probably would need surgery in his feet to repair the broken bones. "I'd say it's going to be many weeks before he's back up and doing some of the things that he likes to do," Bernard said.