[El1teBr33ze]

Originally Posted by wingedsprint47 I was on the track at the time this happened. 2 of the guys got hit right in front of our truck. One guy had a severe broken shoulder in 3 places. The other guy came down to our trailer the next night at Jacksonville with his arm in a sling and he said his back was all cut up. It was the fencing cable that hit them. There was a 3rd person hit also, but I didn't here any more about it. I believe they were Critter Malone's pit crew.

Yeah I believe no one was directly hit from the crash, but the fencing being torn down hit those 3 people.

[SpfldMile]

I was there too, and it was a scary deal. After the car stopped, you could hear the motor screaming, so I'm sure it was a stuck throttle. Whoever said it was right, I think. If it hadn't been for that truck, I think the sprinter would have gone a lot further. It was a weird night, it rained three separate times, once when it didn't look like there were any clouds overhead. It made the track absolutely hammer down fast! When his throttle stuck, he was in the cushion, and holy cow did he take off. I've been in the pits there before for a modified race, and made the comment that I would never stand against that fence during a sprint or midget race. I hope everyone heals up well.

[Mud Packer]

It always amazes me to see people standing along the fence at a race track. Kids want to walk up and be near the action and I wonder where their parents are. I also see parents who walk with their kids up to the fence during racing action and can't for the life of me understand that.

It is especially concerning to see people in the pit area standing by the fence. The danger should be evident to all there that any type of race car can lose control or wreck and hit the fence.

Thankfully this wasn't much worse than it apparently turned out. Very lucky folks standing along the fence row.

[Ovalmeister]

Is Andy Baugh related to Gary Baugh?

[Pat O'Connor Fan]

Originally Posted by Mud Packer It is especially concerning to see people in the pit area standing by the fence.

I went to the POWRi event at this track a couple months back. I stood where this accident occurred with my son and son-in-law during some of the races that evening. I did think once or twice that we were in a bad spot, but we foolishly must have been under the "it won't happen to me" mentality.
Well, I cannot speak for my son or son-in-law, but I will now be much more selective about where I stand when watching races from the pits at any track.

[Mud Packer]

Originally Posted by Pat O'Connor Fan I went to the POWRi event at this track a couple months back. I stood where this accident occurred with my son and son-in-law during some of the races that evening. I did think once or twice that we were in a bad spot, but we foolishly must have been under the "it won't happen to me" mentality. Well, I cannot speak for my son or son-in-law, but I will now be much more selective about where I stand when watching races from the pits at any track.

Steve,

Thankfully nothing happened the evening you were there. I guess that being a former track official and spending time in the pit area has made me much more aware of the danger of standing by the fence. I have seen cars leave the track, clear the fence and land in the pit area and thankfully no one was seriously injured or killed.

I have also seen way to many incidents where a car hits the fence and takes part of it down. In those situations, the fence did its job by keeping the car from getting through the fence and into the grandstands. Many times people have been injured with flying debris but were saved by the fence and cables doing there job.

Let's hope that by seeing this video, folks will think twice about standing by the fence during racing activities.

[Vertigo]

That fence reminds me of the fence at Bloomington Speedway.

Granted, it's easy to spend other peoples money but chain link fences are for keeping dogs from running away, not for protecting spectators from errant race cars.

[MOWA]

Thankfully, things turned out as well as could be imagined given the circumstances. Not to diminish the injuries suffered by Critter's crew members, which we understand to be broken shoulder blades, but things could have been much worse. Hearing the words "People are hurt in the pits. We need ambulances to the pits" on the radio after an accident hits pretty hard. We hope for a full and speedy recovery for the crew members that were injured.

Yes. It was a very different kind of night at Peoria. The day was sunny with not much of a chance of rain and right when we started the driver's meeting a huge storm/rain hit. We pressed forward and got the track ran in, then sure enough here comes more rain without hardly a cloud in the sky.

This was our first occasion in dealing with what you might call a serious incident in our short two years of existence and it is a reminder of how serious we must continue to be regarding the safety of everyone at the track. As a young series we are fortunate to have a fair amount of our own safety equipment and our own safety coordinator that travels with us, but incidents like this make you think of other things you could be doing.

One thing that strikes me as something that a series or local track sometimes overlook is communication with the Ambulance/EMT crew. Usually the firemen are quick to respond, but often the ambulance is left without communication with officials to know when they are needed and where. At some tracks they are kept in a corner or otherwise obstructed from a full view of the track. Everyone leaves to go attend to an accident and can leave the ambulance crew behind without a way to receive direction. If the ambulance isn't going to carry a track/series radio, make sure someone is designated to stay in contact with them so they know when and where to roll. They are the ones who have radios to call for additional assistance when needed as well.

To answer another question, Andy is Gary Baugh's son.

As with any incident, there's a lot to learn from it and we have spent a lot of time evaluating how it occurred and how best to deal with things in the future. To some extent we have the feeling that we dodged a bullet with this one, even though there were injuries that could be considered somewhat serious. Best wishes to all with their recovery.