Dragcar loses control, kills 6 (update sign the petition)

[kyro_02]

video: http://www.dagbladet.no/nyheter/2007/06/17/503785.html

http://www.beta.cnn.com/2007/US/06/1....ap/index.html

Authorities revised the death toll Sunday afternoon, after initially reporting seven people had died.

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said the dead included two 15-year-old girls and a 17-year-old girl. The accident injured 18 others, including a 5-year-old boy, who were taken to hospitals in Tennessee and Mississippi.

Authorities on Sunday identified the driver as pro drag racer Troy Warren Critchley, an Australian who is now based in Wylie, Texas. He suffered minor injuries and was taken by car to a hospital for treatment, authorities said.

No barricades, what were they thinking ?

What was suppose to be a fund raiser for disadvantaged kids, turns in to fatality due to no barricades IMO. Driver error yes, but if barricades were in place he wouldn't have killed them.

Organizes should be blamed for not being 'organized' I reckon.

r.i.p

[Ruger]

Agreed. Look on youtube and you see some very dodgy drag strips. That never would have happened at wsid and many cars have smashed there.

[Boza]

Originally Posted by kyro_02

video: [url]
No barricades, what were they thinking ?

What was suppose to be a fund raiser for disadvantaged kids, turns in to fatality due to no barricades IMO. Driver error yes, but if barricades were in place he wouldn't have killed them.

Organized should be blamed for not being 'organized' I reckon.

r.i.p

I totaly agree with you on this one but the yanks prove time and time again that they're not the smartest people on this planet.

[Full Noise]

This video is absolutely bizarre. When I heard about this yesterday, I thought that this happed on a dragstrip. What the hell were they thinking putting people so close to a car like this without some sort of solid protection?

Very sad.

[Casper]

The driver should have known better too. There should have been barriers (its criminal that this was even considered without barriers) but the driver should have known that the conditions were going to be unpredictable too.

Its just a sad and totally avoidable situation now.

[bartaxr8]

I just posted a topic on this event in the Drag Racing section, so if a mod wouldn't mind merging the threads that would be great. The driver of the car was Australian Troy Critchley.

[dannyxm]

I met Troy Crithcley way back in 1996 odd when he was racing the Castrol Customline.

He really seemed like a nice bloke, i still have the autographed Cusso poster in the rumpus room.

Terrible news indeed, very bad organisation to say the least. :(

[SPK-250]

I just heard it on the radio. They only said it was an Australian from Queenslandm, Troy Critchley is a good bloke. Very sad indeed for all involved. I cant wait to see the follow up stories for this one, the bastard minorities are going to love this one.

[jaydee]

Someone is going to get their A$$ kicked big time over this, it will come down to who ever approved it , local council, Sherrifs Office and/or event organiser.
The yanks love their law suits.
Real shame so many young were killed.

[The Monty]

What a tragedy. So many lives, and three young ones. How could they even think about organising an event where a drag car does stuff in front of a crowd with no protection.

[Rodp]

So needless, the safety precautions taken were next to zero. To have people standing at the barrier with a nitro car giving it stick for it to crash where there's seemingly no barrier and travelling well over 150kph, sorry but the driver should have considered what could have happened before mashing the loud pedal. Very poor judgement and very poorly executed by the organisers.

[sfr rob]

Look at where it happened, and how it happened, they had it coming unfortunately.

[Craig]

Originally Posted by Rodp

So needless, the safety precautions taken were next to zero. To have people standing at the barrier with a nitro car giving it stick for it to crash where there's seemingly no barrier and travelling well over 150kph, sorry but the driver should have considered what could have happened before mashing the loud pedal. Very poor judgement and very poorly executed by the organisers.

Yes you are certainly correct but the car wasn't a "nitro" car it was an alcohol doorslammer, not that it makes any difference it could of been a high powered datsun 180B.

[351hardtop]

That is an outrage.Terrible and largely unavoidable (nothing is totally unavoidable). Everyone involved is to blame, but most of all the driver and organisers are going to be in deep trouble. The driver will probably face criminal charges and whoever has the most money will undoubtedly face civil law suits.

Always lessons learnt with these things at someone's cost.

[BPXR6T]

All I got to say is STUPID!

[Road Games]

Yep when we lost the JUDGE at Eastern creek, i couldnt understand those circumstances? Now this- looks like they need to employ Work place Health and Safety Officers for fund raisers now ?? Where has all the common sense gone in this F%!#@N World ??? :

[Sick EB]

crazy stuff. why the hell would you not have barriers.

[SNB05T]

very sad news to hear. condolences to all the families that lost loved ones, and to troy. i'd hate to be in his shoes at the moment.
who the f%$% would organise to have a drag car do a run with no fu#$ing safety barriers??????? out:

[2002auxr6]

that is very sad and stupid

[Blue Oval Mopar Man]

Unfortunately this couldnt have worked out any better for the media ! Now all their hard work at calling P platers involved in crashes "DRAG RACERS" will be even more revevent to them !

This will be have a huge inpact on real Drag racing circles all over the world ! Not to mention other motorsports ! I do feel sorry for Troy Critchley , but He should have known better ! These cars can get away from even the most experienced driver in a split second !

[freak6]

herd about this last night its so stupid like said above. how could you be so stupid not putting barriers up for a drag event is comon sence isnt it?

[sly_ba]

A very very sad situation for all concerned. This sort of thing should never happen....

[Yellow Fire]

Just opened the new Street Machine mag to find a 4 page article on the man himself. Spooky.

[shedguy]

Tragic, sad, dumb!
But let's not judge 'til the facts are all out .. Troy is a Pro and it wouldn't surprise me if there's more to the storey!!
Having said that - the lack of barriers is inexcusable !!

[Flouro_Joe]

And why haven't the organisers been charged with vehicular manslaughter?

[fordxrtfan]

Tragic
It still amazes me how many motor vehicle events occur without safety barriers
My prayers are with all families involved

[Dean]

This was taken from his website,


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SELMER, Tenn. (June 18, 2007) "The entire AMS Racing Team is in deep mourning over the losses and pain suffered this weekend. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and their families during this difficult time. We are shocked and deeply saddened by this tragic accident, which is compounded by the fact that it occurred during a charitable event designed to raise money for disabled children. We offer our deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the individuals that were injured or perished in the accident," team spokesman William Reid said Monday.

The team was asked to attend a charity event in Selmer, Tenn. to help raise money for the Cars For Kids charity and was told the organization had staged a charity car show for the past 18 years in which the drivers performed burnouts. The team sent its racing team to the event to display two racing cars -- a '93 Corvette and a '57 Chevy - and planned to have each vehicle perform an exhibition burnout.

A burnout is a demonstration in which the driver spins the tires to create smoke and noise to demonstrate the ability of the car. The driver involved in the accident, Troy Critchley, is an experienced professional driver who had performed more than a 1,000 exhibition burnouts without incident prior to Saturday.

The team arrived in Selmer on Friday June 15, 2007. On Saturday the team displayed two cars for the public to view, and, after displaying the cars, the crew was instructed to line up with other cars participating in the event. After the parade was completed, Selmer Police Officers blocked off the highway for the cars to perform the burnouts. The team understands that the Selmer Police Chief, Neal Burks, was present and in charge of crowd placement and blocking off the street.

The drivers understood that the roadway had been inspected and approved for the burnout exhibition. Before Mr. Critchley began the exhibition, two Selmer police cars traveled down the left and right of the roadway and instructed the crowd to move back. Mr. Critchley was signaled to start and he began to perform the burnout. After a straight start, the car skidded off the road. Mr. Critchley did everything humanly possible to keep the car on the road, but unfortunately, there was nothing he could do.

Mr. Critchley was taken to the Emergency Room and treated for injuries he sustained in the accident. He voluntarily submitted blood for testing to the Tennessee Highway Patrol and it was confirmed he had no alcohol or drugs in his system. The entire crew remained in Selmer on Sunday, June 17 to cooperate and provide information to Tennessee State authorities investigating the accident.

The team has agreed for the involved car to remain in the possession of the Tennessee Highway Patrol for examination. Mr. Critchley was not arrested nor has he been given any indication he will be charged with a criminal offense. The team is cooperating with the State of Tennessee and is currently investigating a number of factors that may have contributed to the accident including crowd control, safety precautions and the preparation and condition of the roadway.

[DBL15]

thats a good statement on a event that should never happen :(:(

rip

[uranium_death]

The driver should not be charged. As stated, he is a pro but as human error goes, even professionals make mistakes. Steve Irwin and Peter Brock are examples of things going wrong tragically.

Had there been barriers as well as a safety zone for spectators, this thread would not exist, or at least not have a tragic flavour to it.

I am not sure on legislation regarding venues for car sports in the U.S. but if it is undeveloped, it should be. It is a shame that it always take a tragedy for things to be acted upon.

[Unco]

this is an absolute tragedy. i don't really want to see Troy getting charged, but i'm not so sure he'll walk free from this one, unfortunately...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...061700170.html

Larry Price, the founder of Cars for Kids, said he has been staging this event for 18 years in Selmer, and they always do burnouts at the end of the parade. There had been no accidents in the past, he said.

"We're not racing," Price said. "We're just doing little-old burnouts, revving the motors up, stuff like that."

There were four professional drag-racers at the show, and each was supposed to do one burnout, Price said. Most people burn the tires for less than 50 feet, but Critchley went much farther than that before losing control, Price said.

Moore, the 19-year-old witness, said before the crash there had been a parade of cars _ everything from antique cars to modern dragsters. But he thought the show was over.

"I was about to head across the street, and I saw him barreling toward us."

Other cars in the parade had been spinning their tires and then accelerating quickly, but everyone else put on the brakes before going past the guard rails, Moore said.