CHEYENNE - Rep. Randall Luthi, the state House majority floor leader, suffered a heart attack and was admitted to the intensive care unit of a Colorado hospital, a legislative leader said Monday.

Luthi, 48, R-Freedom and the No. 2 ranking official in the House, was driving on Interstate 25 near Fort Collins, Colo., Sunday afternoon and felt chest pain.

"Randall had a full-blown heart attack," said Rep. Rodney "Pete" Anderson, R-Pine Bluffs, House speaker pro tempore.

Luthi, who is in his 10th year in the Legislature, stopped at a rest area and dialed 911.

"They picked him up, had him in the hospital in a few minutes," Anderson said.

Luthi underwent an angioplasty and had a stent inserted, Anderson said.

A stent is a wire coil which props open an artery to keep it from refilling with scar tissue.

During angioplasty, doctors move tiny balloons through clogged heart arteries, then inflate them briefly to open up blood flow.

Luthi, a former majority whip, was expected to be released from Poudre Valley Hospital late Monday, said Anderson, who spoke by phone with his colleague in the morning.

"He's well on the road to recovery," Anderson said. "He expects to be back before the session's over."

The budget session is expected to end Friday.

Luthi is believed to be the first person in Wyoming history to win his seat through a pingpong ball drawing. A recount showed him tied with independent Larry Call in 1994, with the winner determined by a drawing of lots, or rather, pingpong balls, from then-Gov. Mike Sullivan's cowboy hat.

Since then, Luthi has been re-elected four times.