Tragic drag car accident in Tenn

bolsen2 · Jun 17, 2007

During a burnout exibition at a charity event for kids in Tennessee,the car went out of control,and into the crowd of spectators. Several people were killed. You can log onto the WMC-TV website for the particulars. There is some video there also. It's a shame that something that was meant to be a fun event came to such a tragic end. My heart go's out to everyone involved. Brian.

Car Nut · Jun 17, 2007

That is a terrible thing to happen.

I watched the two witnesses doing their interview and then watched the video. Couldn't believe that this was happening on a closed Interstate/Highway and so close to so many people. Running a (possibly) 200MPH+ car at full tilt that close to spectators (with no protection) should have been disallowed big time. Granted the speed wasn't max, but just seeing the beginning of the first amatuer video and all those spectators so close just gave me chills.

I love going to Fun Ford Weekend here at the Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, GA) and even my wife feels totally safe with all that goes on. There's a couple of concrete walls, a large fence, and only spectators on one side of the track. Most of the spectators are also near the starting line.

Of all the drag exhibitions and races I've seen, there are always a couple cars or many more that get real loose during their runs. It's just going to happen, but 99% of the time the drivers recover and gain control.

I do feel bad for all the families of those that were hurt and killed. Hopefully the folks responsible for the show will learn a hard lesson about safety after this tragedy.

poboys 94 · Jun 17, 2007

Epecially at a charity event its such a tragedy, very stupid to have such an exibition so close to spectators from what I read IMO. Does anyone have a link to the video?

pleasehelp · Jun 17, 2007

Three more people have died bringing the toll to 7

http://www.wmctv.com/Global/story.asp?S=6668755

The Green GT · Jun 17, 2007

Damn,. why would they allow car like that do do stuff like that with nothing protecting the pedestrians. He was going atleast 50 MPH when he hit them.

poboys 94 · Jun 17, 2007

Man I dont know it seems like he might have been going faster then 50mph, sorry for the folks that were killed and hurt but that was just plain STUPID of the sponsors to do, Now you can expect ALL events like this to be or possibly banned/srutinized i.e.. Fun Ford Weekend burnout contest usually at Hooters etc..

SeventyMach1 · Jun 17, 2007

poboys 94 said:
Fun Ford Weekend burnout contest usually at Hooters etc..

Huh? The one I go to always has the burn out contest on the track. Say what ye will, but even having it at Hooter's is a stupid idea IMO. Yea, I am guilty of burning them on the street .... but we are talking ALOT of people doing burnouts .... and even MORE watching. Stupid. Something can always go wrong.

As far as racing on a 2 lane road with that many people lined up down HWY 64 .... I think the sponsors there should be banned from having anything to do with car shows ... or w/e they do. Totally stupid. Safety was definitely not considered there. I am sorry for the families with losses due to this ... and for the witnesses.

5spd GT · Jun 17, 2007

That was crazy...

That is very sad

poboys 94 · Jun 17, 2007

SeventyMach1 said:
Huh? The one I go to always has the burn out contest on the track. Say what ye will, but even having it at Hooter's is a stupid idea IMO. Yea, I am guilty of burning them on the street .... but we are talking ALOT of people doing burnouts .... and even MORE watching. Stupid. Something can always go wrong.

As far as racing on a 2 lane road with that many people lined up down HWY 64 .... I think the sponsors there should be banned from having anything to do with car shows ... or w/e they do. Totally stupid. Safety was definitely not considered there. I am sorry for the families with losses due to this ... and for the witnesses.

I kid you not Orlando Fla. 2002 Hooters -MMFF had the burnout contest at Hooters. I agree this could have been avoided with a minimal amount of common sense.

reddy351 · Jun 17, 2007

That looked like a Pro Mod car. He was prolly going more like 80+ mph, before he lost it. (They are 8 second, 200mph cars and he was about 2 seconds on the gas) WTF were they thinking?! It said that the driver was not charged with any criminal charges. He and the sponsors (whoever let him even start that thing with people around) SHOULD be charged. He's responsible, because he was the operator. Of course, life as he knows it is prolly over.

This is going to make it impossible to get fun stuff like burnout "contests" going at weekend events. I was trying to get the local Quaker Steak and Lube (like Hooters, without the hooters) to put in a steel plate, guardrails (they already have a little bit of it) and some concrete highway barriers. Not gonna happen, now. It probably wouldn't have, anyway, I guess.

Pokageek · Jun 17, 2007

reddy351 said:
That looked like a Pro Mod car. He was prolly going more like 80+ mph, before he lost it. (They are 8 second, 200mph cars and he was about 2 seconds on the gas) WTF were they thinking?! It said that the driver was not charged with any criminal charges. He and the sponsors (whoever let him even start that thing with people around) SHOULD be charged. He's responsible, because he was the operator. Of course, life as he knows it is prolly over.

This is going to make it impossible to get fun stuff like burnout "contests" going at weekend events. I was trying to get the local Quaker Steak and Lube (like Hooters, without the hooters) to put in a steel plate, guardrails (they already have a little bit of it) and some concrete highway barriers. Not gonna happen, now. It probably wouldn't have, anyway, I guess.

The reason the whole thing is stupid is because accidents like these have been WELL DOCUMENTED since like.. the 1920's. Spectators THAT close with NO protection around DIE. The definition of stupid is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Events like this have gone on for years even though people KNOW things like this happen. And they keep doing it!

95WhiteVenom · Jun 18, 2007

Wow Selmer is only a few short hours away and I didnt hear about that on our local news. That is a shame that something like that happened. Prayers out for all those involved.

Bosko5.0 · Jun 18, 2007

may those who died RIP. And those that let this happen get the toughest sentence.

MI95Cobra · Jun 18, 2007

damn...my heart goes out to the friends and family.....this where the politics come in....should he be charged or not.....i think the people who put the show on should feel alittle responsible because of the lack of barriers...just think what the driver is going through...he's probably ran the whole scene through his mind a half a million times to see if the could of done anything different...maybe the road conditions could of been better, who knows...it happened way to fast....i think they should try and look at it from every angle....it looked and sounded from the video that he let off right where the camera view was and he just lost control...i'm not defending the guy, but i'm not trying to be quick to judge...just think if he hit a little pot hole while in that at that speed he would of course loose it...right after i got my first mustang years back it was a 91 lx 5.0 and my ex-brother-n-law had a 95 gt and we lined them up just like many do and i hit a wet spot(just damp) that i didn't see it and i turned me sideways just as quick luckily i just started otherwise who knows...after that i stopped playing on the roads.... all i'm saying that don't be quick to judge...

Car Nut · Jun 18, 2007

MI95Cobra said:
damn...my heart goes out to the friends and family.....this where the politics come in....should he be charged or not.....i think the people who put the show on should feel alittle responsible because of the lack of barriers...just think what the driver is going through...he's probably ran the whole scene through his mind a half a million times to see if the could of done anything different...maybe the road conditions could of been better, who knows...it happened way to fast....i think they should try and look at it from every angle....it looked and sounded from the video that he let off right where the camera view was and he just lost control...i'm not defending the guy, but i'm not trying to be quick to judge...just think if he hit a little pot hole while in that at that speed he would of course loose it...right after i got my first mustang years back it was a 91 lx 5.0 and my ex-brother-n-law had a 95 gt and we lined them up just like many do and i hit a wet spot(just damp) that i didn't see it and i turned me sideways just as quick luckily i just started otherwise who knows...after that i stopped playing on the roads.... all i'm saying that don't be quick to judge...

I think most would agree with you. Other people could have brought some common safety sense to the table to prevent that location from being used. I still can't believe that police were present and didn't think this was too unsafe.

The driver wasn't the main problem.........the location, lack of safety measures, and proximity to the public was the big oversight. You might be able to lax on one of those three aspects and come away lucky, but not when you lax on all 3.

I still remember my first time at Atlanta Dragway (FFW) and how the announcer (older guy) mentioned something in the name of safety every 10-15 minutes. You could tell that it was a priority. I was really impressed and it made my wife a lot more appreciative of the sport and frankly somewhat of a fan (she'll go every year or to whatever event I'm going to).

Hopefully the fatality numbers will stop rising. Prayers to them all.

RFMustangGT · Jun 18, 2007

Bosko5.0 said:
may those who died RIP. And those that let this happen get the toughest sentence.

tragic yes and my thoughts and prayers go to the families but toughest sentence for the people involved, no. Way I look at it is no different than any other motor sport event, you assume the risk when you go. If you go to a major motor sport event the ticket will more than likely say "not responsible for injury and/or death". The people there knew what these cars can do and subconciously knew what the dangers were. Yes the event coordinators should have a bit more thought into this on the cars used during that part of the car show but should not be held responsible for the deaths. Yes there should be some major changes made to the event to help prevent this awful tragedy from happening again but giving the toughest sentence to the people in charge is not the solution to the problem. A natural knee jerk where people want heads but only time will tell. We still don't know the whole story. The throttle could have stuck and the guy could have killed more. He really did try to save it if you watch the videos. It could have been MUCH worse.

Tragic drag car accident in Tenn

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Tragic drag car accident in Tenn

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