Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510090126
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B11 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: BOB ZELLER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium
No NASCAR track illuminates the sport with such pageantry. But no NASCAR track exposes the ugly side of racing with such relentless brutality.
Outside of the speedway, a Court of Legends commemorates the great drivers of the past. But there is no memorial to the young, inexperienced sportsman drivers who have died here or been hauled away in ambulances with broken bones and other injuries for the sake of the spectacle.
In newspapers around the South this morning, a number of motorsports columnists are again calling for an end to the 7-year-old Sportsman Series, in which three drivers have died after only 44 races. Clearly, most of these drivers are way over their heads on this 1.5-mile speedway.
Perhaps the best way to add my voice to those calling for an end to this needless violence is to present the brutal history of the series. Herewith is Charlotte Motor Speedway's Legacy of Shame.
May, 1990: Driver David Gaines spins off turn four and comes to a stop near the entrance of pit road. He is not hurt in the spin, but at least five seconds after his car comes to a stop, it is T-boned by another car. Gaines is killed.
May, 1991: Former unlimited hydroplane champion Tom D'Eath T-bones Ed Gartner Jr.'s car during a four-car crash in turn four. D'Eath suffers a broken neck; Gartner suffers a compound fracture of his right leg and a cracked sternum.
May, 1991: Philip Ross' car hits the fourth turn wall, spins to the inside of the track, backs into the pit road fence and bursts into flames. It takes more than 30 seconds for firemen to reach the scene. Ross finally crawls out of the passenger side of his car, but is seriously burned. He retires from racing and sells his car to good friend Gary Batson.
May, 1992: Gary Batson and Neal Connell collide in turn four. Batson's car gets on its side, scrapes along the wall and bursts into flames before coming to a stop. Batson is uninjured in the crash, but is mortally burned after it takes firemen 35 seconds to reach the scene and more than a minute to extinguish the fire. Batson is conscious the entire time.At the hospital, when Batson's brother, Roy, comes in, Gary jerked his head around, looked at his brother and started crying. ``He knew,'' Roy Batson says later. ``You could tell he knew.'' Batson dies about 15 hours after the crash.
May, 1992: Steve Allison breaks his right shoulder blade and fractures a rib in a one-car crash in the tri-oval.
October, 1992: The Duron 100 features a five-car crash on lap 27, a four-car crash on lap 45 and a massive 12-car crash on lap 54 that forces the race to be halted for more than 12 minutes. In one of the crashes, Mark Purcell suffers a broken sternum.
October, 1993: The sportsman race is red-flagged for almost 15 minutes when nine cars are involved in a wild crash coming off turn two. No one is hurt.
May, 1994: The Goody's 100 features an eight-car crash in turn 4 on the second lap. No one is injured.
May, 1994: Four drivers and two crewmen are hurt or shaken up in another grim race. And for the third time in four years, there is a fiery crash coming out of turn 4.
When Gary ``Red'' Everette spins off turn four and is T-boned by Ronnie Sewell, Everette's car bursts into flames. Again it takes more than 30 seconds for speedway fire trucks to reach the scene. Everette is finally helped out of his car by crewmen. He receives minor facial burns. Sewell and another driver are shaken up.
Later, two cars crash in turn four and an axel from one of them flies into the pits. Crewman Jack Kochiss is taken to a local hospital with a separated shoulder. Crewman Jerry Hawks is taken there with a leg injury. Driver Rounder Saverance is shaken up.
October, 1994: Sportsman ``action'' includes a six-car wreck in turn four. No one is hurt.
May, 1995: A scheduled 67-lap race is shortened to 54 laps because of the time consumed in cleaning up several crashes.
May, 1995: For the fourth time in five years, there is another fireball in turn 4. But unlike past years, the two drivers involved in this fireball - Mickey Hudspeth and Perry Tripp - walk away unhurt. This time, speedway fire crews have the blaze out only 19 seconds after the cars come to a stop.
October, 1995: In the most gruesome crash of all, Russell Phillips is decapitated after the top of his car is torn off when he flips up onto the turn 4 fence during a five-car accident.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB