I have never been to Desoto Speedway but it seems to have had a lot of serious crashes over the years, most notably the April 1985 crash of stock car standout Butch Lindley which left him in a coma until he passed in June 1990. I ran across a cell phone video of Dave Steele's crash posted by a fan at the track. Most disturbing thing was the report that there was no ambulance or EMS service available at the track. If that is a fact, I don't understand why the drivers would race under those conditions. This track has been around for a long time and ESPN used to broadcast races from there. As a matter of fact, the race in which Butch Lindley was injured was being broadcast live. There was plenty of emergency personnel on the scene at that accident, which makes me wonder if the report of lack of EMS service at the track last night is true.
Perhaps Desoto isn't any worse than any other high banked paved speedway, but when you lose drivers the caliber of Butch Lindley and Dave Steele it is bound to cast a spotlight on the facility.
After posting this, I discovered a bit of irony, Butch Lindley was born on March 25, 1948, so Dave Steele's accident occurred on what would have been Butch's 69th birthday.
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Ron Miller
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Last edited by ronmil; 3/26/17 at 4:21 PM.
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