Plane crash won't keep NASCAR team owner Jack Roush grounded

July 30--JACK ROUSH -- The Cat in the Hat -- has used up at least two of his nine lives already, but, at 68, I don't think he's complaining.

Roush, the Northville businessman and NASCAR team owner, " target="topwalked away from a plane crash in Wisconsin on Tuesday -- his second accident in the past eight years.

Roush is banged up, for sure, and no doubt thanking his lucky stars that he and his passenger, Brenda Stricklin of Plymouth, made it out of his business jet alive after a hard landing split the plane in two at the Oshkosh Air Show, one of his favorite annual trips.

At the Henry Ford Museum on Wednesday, Ford Racing brass and I talked about Roush's love of aviation, which twice almost has called him to that great hangar in the sky. No one expects Jack to hang up the goggles just yet, however.

"God bless the angels -- they were watching over him," said Jamie Allison, Ford North American Motorsports director.

Allison was relieved his No. 1 team owner and friend would recover to walk the garage again and more than likely hop into one of his planes -- his beloved P-51 Mustang, perhaps -- in the near future.

One year to the day that Roush was plucked from the water by former marine Larry Hicks after crashing a small experimental plane into a lake near Troy, Ala., on April 19, 2002, Jack was flying his Mustang over Michigan International Speedway.

I remember it well: I was sitting in a second seat behind him.

Roush had spent months recovering from a broken leg, collapsed lung and head injuries. He limped to his war plane in his hangar at Willow Run Airport with the aid of a walking stick.

I wasn't sure I'd made the right choice to fly with him at the time. My wife said I was an idiot.

I spent over an hour in the air with Roush, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. He took great pride in showing off his Mustang. You could feel how much the man enjoyed flying and life in general.

Of course, Jack loves to have a passenger with him when he takes to the wild blue yonder. It gives him the opportunity to show off his aerobatic skills and ask you if you have the small brown bag between your knees.

Roush likes to see what you're made of. It's the same thing with his race-car drivers. He expects the best -- from himself and them.

Roush was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2006. In 2008, he was elected to the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame and will be inducted, it is hoped, on Sept. 13. I fully expect he'll be there.

Roush started out as a drag racer and engineer for Ford in the 1960s. He won championships in Trans-Am and IMSA in the 1980s. He moved to NASCAR in 1988.

He has won two Sprint Cup titles with Matt Kenseth (2003) and Kurt Busch (2004). In 2009, Kenseth gave Jack a Daytona 500 victory. Overall, Roush Fenway Racing has won more than 260 NASCAR races.

Just as important, Livonia-based Roush Enterprises -- parent company of Roush Racing and Roush Industries -- has employed thousands of people in Michigan.

When a bleeding Roush emerged from his broken Beechcraft Premier jet at Wittman Regional Airport early Tuesday evening, he wasn't wearing his trademark Panama-style hat.

I'd wager it was in the plane, by his seat in the cockpit.

It would be crazy to think we will see Jack wearing it at Pocono Raceway on Sunday when his team competes in the Pennsylvania 500.

Yet knowing how Roush keeps landing on his feet, I wouldn't bet against The Cat making an appearance.

Contact MIKE BRUDENELL: 313-222-2115 or . Read more in his auto racing blog at " target="topfreep.com/racingblog.