Ulcerative Colitis

''Because of the bleeding, you lose a lot of blood and you lose bowel control,'' Speed said.

``So I basically ran around for a year and a half wearing diapers and being anemic.

``It's something that was a huge character-builder, when you can walk around the racetrack and still perform wearing diapers and have self-dignity.''.

Speed nearly had surgery to remove his colon, which would have ended his career, but he found a doctor in Vienna, Austria, who he said cured him using ``cutting-edge treatment.'' BIGGER PLANS Part of Dan Wheldon's decision to race for Chip Ganassi could stem from a desire to race in NASCAR's Cup series.

Wheldon, 2005 Indianapolis 500 and IndyCar Series champion, left Andretti Green Racing during the offseason to join Ganassi, who owns two IRL teams and three Cup teams.

Wheldon's former owner, Andretti, told The Express-Times of Easton, Pa.: ``That was part of the deal.

That was one of the reasons he went there.'' If Wheldon is NASCAR bound, he's not saying.

During preseason testing at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Wheldon said: ``anything in my contract is between me and Chip.'' Would Wheldon consider racing Cup in the future?

''It's certainly the biggest stage in America, but with the IndyCar series the way it is, I need to be focused on that because it's going to be competitive, so that's what we're focusing on ri...

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