Two children were killed, and eight other spectators were injured this weekend during a drag racing event in Texas. At an event called Airport Race Wars 2, which was being held on a runway at the Kerrville-Kerr County Airport, about sixty miles (97km) northwest of San Antonio, a driver lost control of his car and slammed into a crowd of spectators. According to Kerrville police a 6-year-old died at the scene and an 8-year-old was rushed to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead a short time later.
Four people were transported to hospitals by air ambulances, including a 46-year-old woman in critical condition, police said. Two people were treated and released at the scene, and two children, a 4-year-old boy and a 3-month-old girl, were taken by ambulance to hospitals as a precaution. The driver of the car was also injured but has been listed in stable condition.
Flyin Diesel Performance — which organized the event for the 3,500 fans — added that it’s working with the Kerrville Police Department … and is devastated by the tragedy.
“On behalf of the entire Flyin Diesel team we extend our most sincere condolences to the families affected by Saturday’s event! We remain in prayer for strength and comfort through this difficult time. We are working with Kerrville Police Department, and they have our full cooperation throughout this entire process.”
Stay tuned to RacingJunk.com as the investigation from this crash continues
Terrible
You never have enough safety precautions ever!
All Non Sanctioned drag race events are accidents waiting to happen because: 1.)THERE ARE ALWAYS SPECTATORS WHO ARE NOT PROPERLY PROTECTED BEHIND CEMENT WALLS AND CATCH FENCES TO PREVENT CARS WHO GO AIRBORNE ALONG WITH RACE CAR DEBRIS.2.)IF TRACK OFFICIALS ARE NOT PRESENT,SPECTATORS WILL TAKE A RISK IN BEING TOO CLOSE TO THE RACE-CARS IN COMPETITION.RIP for the children who passed at such a young age.
This is why most of these events require, or should require you to sign a waiver of liability in order to enter the premises.
If you wish to go to the event, you assume responsibility for your own safety.
It’s very unfortunate that people were killed and injured, but they chose to go there, and they chose to put themselves in a position where they could be struck by a vehicle or debris.
My prayers are with all involved, including the organizers, who will likely be ruined by predatory lawyers chasing lawsuits for big bucks. 🙁
yep, we can get run-over and killed in the Pits / Infield too. We all have to pay-attention, for ourselves and our families around cars no-matter where we are.
Further proof that no-prep is just stupid and overly dangerous when you have 2-3 thousand HP cars trying to race down a dirty dusty track by driver’s that think then got it all under control and refuse to get their foot off the gas even as they feel the car getting loose at mid range to top end where they’re really starting to haul, all they can think is to try and win the race at any cost and apparently you’re not considered manly and not a good driver if you have to lift because the tires have lost all traction and they’re just skating around all over their lane but soon in the other cars lane. If they’re fortunate enough they only wreck the car they’re driving, other times they’ll wreck both cars and in this case the car went over the cement barrier (that was too low) for this type of stupidity racing and killed and injured little kids and adults. This has nothing to do with signing a waiver, this is just a money grab by the track owner because they don’t have to provide any safeguards and they don’t have to spray the track to make it a lot safer, just pay them the cash up front and they walk away putting all the safety precautions on who ever is running the event. And save me me the line that no-prep simulates real street conditions as street racing is illegal in every state for a good reason, a lot of these cars that race would NOT PASS an NHRA safety inspection and all the driver/owner need to have is entry fee money. This form of drag racing needs to be done away with because it’s not safe for any one. Anyone that thinks I’m wrong ,just imagine if that was your family or friends were in the way of that car when it went into the crowd. There needs to be some type of oversight for these races not just anything goes is good enough because they agreed to a waiver when they entered the property. There are too many drivers that have balls that are bigger than their pea brains.