Off-road race crash kills 8

[TRANSAM]

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/848126--8-dead-after-crash-at-off-road-race-in-california-desert

[dando]

:(

-Kevin

[dando]

http://sports.espn.go.com/rpm/racing/news/story?id=5467065


LUCERNE VALLEY, Calif. -- One of the eight spectators who died Saturday during an off-road race northeast of Los Angeles had pushed children out of the way as the truck barreled toward them, according to a friend.

Derek Cox told KABC-TV in Los Angeles that Andrew Therrien, 22, sacrificed himself to save the children. He was killed in the accident.

"I owe my son's life, as well as many others," Cox said of the Riverside resident. "They were inches away from him and he saved their lives. He's a hero in my book."

:thumbup:

-Kevin

[Fio1]

This is messed up big time. This is really bad! First, why weren't there any security or people from the sanctioning body telling fans to get back. They had to be 100 feet away from the track. Ya, it's a 50 mile course, but where the accident happened was right at the beginning of the course and where all the spectators gathered. Policing that area shouldn't have been too difficult. Secondly, they should have had a official vehicle on the track to do a pre-run to see that it was safe to start the race as in rally racing. And finally, why was Brett Sloopy so close to the truck ahead of him and traveling faster then him coming up to the jump. He was right behind him and should have known the jump was coming up. He should have backed off and past him after the jump. I think the accident happened because he miss judged the closing rate and realize mid-air that he was right on the guy ahead of him and slammed on the breaks when he landed. Look at the CNN video you will see what I am talking about. Brett was approaching the jump much faster then all the other trucks, especially the truck right ahead of him.