THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 8, 1995 TAG: 9510080156
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C8 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY BOB ZELLER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: CONCORD, N.C. LENGTH: Medium: 75 lines
The NASCAR showplace that is Charlotte Motor Speedway represents the best - and worst - of stock-car racing.
No NASCAR track illuminates the sport with such pageantry. But no NASCAR track exposes the ugly side of racing with such relentless brutality.
Outside 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 or have been hauled away in ambulances for the sake of the spectacle.
In newspapers around the South this morning, a number of motorsports columnists again are 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 hydroplane champion Tom D'Eath T-bones Ed Gartner Jr.'s car in 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's 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 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. 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, arrives, Gary Batson turns his head, looks at his brother and starts crying. ``He knew,'' Roy Batson said later. ``You could tell he knew.'' Gary Batson dies of his burns 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 four 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 four. Gary ``Red'' Everette spins and is T-boned by Ronnie Sewell. Everette's car bursts into flames, and again it takes more than 30 seconds for speedway fire trucks to reach the scene. Everette receives minor facial burns. Sewell and another driver are shaken up. Later, two cars crash in turn four and an axle flies into the pits. Crewman Jack Kochiss suffers a separated shoulder; crewman Jerry Hawks is hospitalized with a leg injury.
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 a fireball in turn four. But unlike past years, the drivers involved - 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: Russell Phillips is decapitated after the top of his car is torn off when he flips up onto the turn-four fence during a five-car accident. by CNB