Selmer, TN drag racing accident

[rhjames]

this has to be the stupid-est thing to happen since, well.....it was just stupid......

It seems that the Cars for Kids organizers thought it might be a good thing to line the streets of Selmer, TN, with tens of thousands of spectators, and then send a ProMod car doing a burnout right down the middle of said crowd.

Result:

Car out of control, 6 spectators dead.


I am lifelong fan and competitor in drag racing, but this takes the cake for stupidity. I have seen most of the bad ones, from cars going straight through steel guardrails or over concrete barriers, to cars upside down at over 300mph.

Street racing is illegal everywhere, driving a ProMod car is highly unpredictable (and I love the ProMod class), and what the hell were the organizers thinking????

Everyone involved in this lunacy should be arrested and thrown in jail without a trial----forever.

Drag Racing didn't need this----nor did the victims.

Totally stupid.

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[David]

The video is on on the internet. I thought it would be a burnout gone bad. WRONG!!! This moron was doing a full on pro style burnout in a crowd. He must have been close to 100mph!!!

[Jim Richards]

Tragic loss of life that could've been avoided.

[notfarnow]

When I heard about it on the radio, I pictured a drag car sitting there with its rear tires spinning and maybe going sideways into people.

Just saw the video. That car was doing a run down a street lined with people.

3 layers of stupidity: The guy in the car, the people lining the street and the organizers who allowed it to happen.

Here's the less graphic version of the video:

[Mo_Gearhead]

Unbelieveable! I have been a Drag Race fan for 40 years. Have watched the drag strips change from: cars on a strip, lined with "observers" cars with people sitting on their hoods/roofs to watch ...to the now mostly concrete walled, two lane "TUBES" that they race down today.

This charity event was to have some race cars do a 50 FT! burnout, smoke some tires, let the crowd hear some high HP engines, etc. Now this guy either had a throttle stick open (he will plead that, just wait and see) or just wanted to be the BIG DOG for his own ego.

If the throttle struck its an easy move to Switch Off!

I hope every family that lost someone sues the @#$% out of him.

[Jims5543]

I just saw the video, Ouch!! Man, some people are in big trouble for that one.

It was sad to see people sprawled out on the street, then a guy walks through with a kid in a stroller holding a balloon.

[masraum]

This site has the video. (nothing gory) Yeah, it was a funny car doing a huge, very fast burnout.

http://www.wmcstations.com/Global/story.asp?S=6672035

[Neilk]

Insane.... if I did something that stupid with such tragic consequences, I would only have thought on my mind- suicide.

How can you live with yourself after such stupidity, recklessness, whatever you want to call it?

[RANDY P]

Originally posted by Neilk
Insane.... if I did something that stupid with such tragic consequences, I would only have thought on my mind- suicide.

How can you live with yourself after such stupidity, recklessness, whatever you want to call it?

+1

I'd eat a bullet, immediately.

rjp

[CurtEgerer]

Eventually, Darwin will weed out the mental-midgets who think it's a great idea to put racing cars (and trucks) on city streets lined with spectators. Yet another, this time only 7 people injured. Somehow, nobody got killed. It's tough to say who the bigger idiots are: the organizers, the driver, or the spectators?

[SCWDP911]

Selmer is just down Hwy 45 from us - about 45 minutes.

Very tragic thing for all concerned. Yeah, it was stupid on all accounts. The worse thing is that they apparently have done this before over the last few years, but got lucky with it. Now that it has gone wrong, everyone is suing everyone else...

[turbo6bar]

Not sure how WRC pulls off their rallies year after year.

[GDSOB]

Originally Posted by turbo6bar

Not sure how WRC pulls off their rallies year after year.

Really, look at the people lining the course on the "heel toe" video.

[turbo6bar]

The 70s groove music keeps Rohl on the road. There is nothing to fear.

Fans still line the roads at WRC events. I wouldn't call the organizers, fans, and drivers idiots. Irrational, yes? Idiots, no.

[911 in SC]

Even though the WRC events appear to be similar, IMO, it's a totally different environment. People go to the WRC knowing what could happen and prepare for it. I am not sure of the events, but it appears that no one was prepared for what happened Selmer, TN. Sad, very sad, in more ways than one.

[CurtEgerer]

>>>IMO, it's a totally different environment.<<<

Exactly right. These are usually part of some sort of local festival. You've got many people and kids lining the streets who are clueless about motorsports and what can happen (so I shouldn't probably call them idiots). But for a professional driver to take part in this is criminal - think about it. I'm going to strap into some sort of 1000HP monster truck, give it full power and jump some cars with kids lining either side of the street, completely unprotected. You would have to be a complete IDIOT.

WRC has much much tighter crowd control than the wild days of the 80's, at least in most countries. Go to a Rally America event and there is extremely tight crowd control - you're only allowed in specific roped off spectator areas, usually on slow-speed turns.