Race Cars Fly Into Stands, Killing Woman
More Than A Dozen People Injured
AMHERST, Ohio -- Two cars at the Lorain County Speedway tangled, went out of control and flew into the stands Saturday night, killing a 65-year-old woman.
NewsChannel5's Tony Gaskins reports that more than a dozen people were injured, making it one of the worst racing accidents in NASCAR history.The Lorain County Speedway became part of the NASCAR circuit just this year, and cars race there every Saturday night.As the back of the pack rounded turn four in the third race Saturday night, two cars at the rear on the right collided. At about 75 mph, their momentum pushed the cars into a crowd of horrified spectators. "I was just watching these two guys, because they had a good battle going on," spectator Gene Weaver said.Weaver was sitting in the third row about 40 feet away, and he saw the cars hurtling through the air."The car on the right-hand side went straight through the fence up over the wall, through the fence and straight into the stands," he said.The second car landed in the stands trunk first. Driver John Karl saw trouble coming when the cars behind him shoved him out of control."All I remember is getting touched in the rear end and sliding around and (seeing) the one car start to get airborne and when I got out, I remembered seeing cars everywhere," he said.Fourteen injured spectators were rushed to area hospitals, but a 65-year-old wheelchair-bound woman, Virginia Wyleth, did not survive. Karl's father, a teammate and also a paramedic, helped to treat the victims. "I handed my video camera off to my daughter and ran down there as quickly as I could," he said. "When I first came upon the victim (who) passed away, she was unconscious lying face-down."Veteran drivers who have seen it all never expected to see this, WEWS reports."I've been hanging around race tracks for 30 years, and I've never seen a car go through a fence and come into the grandstands like that," race team member Greg Wilt said. "It's a very freak incident."Lorain is one of only 100 short tracks nationwide. Kevin Bonnema bought the 49-year-old speedway four years ago and brought it up to NASCAR standards. The speedway and the Lorain County Sheriff's Department are investigating the accident. A couple of the victims remained at MetroHealth Medical Center Monday recovering from their injuries.
| Video |
Copyright 2007 by NewsNet5. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.













