BY SAUNDRA AMRHEIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
LEBANON -- Twenty-five years ago he was revered for his heroic return to race-car driving after a fiery crash nearly claimed his life.
On Friday he stood in shackles, was ordered to six months of drug treatment and stripped of his driver's license for three years. Former Indianapolis 500 driver David "Salt" Walther was sentenced to six months at the Community Correction Center and three years' probation by Warren County Common Pleas Court Judge P. Daniel Fedders.
Mr. Walther, 50, of Oakwood near Dayton, is serving the sentence after pleading guilty in August to trying to smuggle three Tylenol III tablets into the Warren County Jail.
Tylenol III is a prescription pain-killer that contains codeine. Judge Fedders imposed the sentence a day after Mr. Walther turned himself in to Warren County Sheriff's officials at the jail. An arrest warrant had been issued when he failed to show for the sentencing Tuesday.
He told the judge he did not show up because the fuel pump broke on his 1989 Dodge truck.
"I don't believe that," Judge Fedders responded.
Instead, Judge Fedders suggested he skipped the sentence because he had been abusing drugs again.
Mr. Walther admitted he had recently tried heroin and was taking the pain medicine.
"I take Tylenol with codeine," Mr. Walther said. "I have steel pins and 109 operations throughout me."
Mr. Walther nearly died at the 1973 Indianapolis 500 when his car burst into flames after a 12-car pileup at the start of the race. He spent about three months in the hospital recovering from disfiguring burns and returned to racing nine months later.
His last performance at the famous track was in 1979.
Mr. Walther used the glove he wears over his deformed left hand to hide the three Tylenol tablets when reentering the Warren County Jail last May while on work release.
At the time, he was serving four months for failing to pay about $8,500 in child support.
Judge Fedders said he was sending him to the community center to help the former race-car driver solve his drug problem. If he errs at the center, the judge warned, he would send Mr. Walther to a state penitentiary for a year.
"It's still not too late to get your life in order," Judge Fedders said.
