Eight people killed and 12 injured as car ploughs into crowds at California motor race

Debris from the scene of an accident litters the ground today

Crash aftermath: The race truck is righted after it went out of control and plowed into a crowd of spectators in the California desert

Eight people died when a driver lost control of his vehicle and crashed into the crowd during an off-road race in the California desert.

Horrified witnesses said the accident left 'bodies everywhere'. The victims had no time to save themselves when the truck became airborne and landed upside down on top of them.

The California 200 race is held in such a remote spot that it took rescue workers more than half an hour to reach the site, forcing spectators to tend to the dying and wounded on their own.








Smash: An off-road car on its back after the horror crash at the California 200 race last night, in which eight people were killed

Panic: Spectators rush to help a victim trapped under the car

Popular: Tens of thousands go to watch the event in the Lucerne Valley

Dangerous: Lucerne Valley is a popular spot for off-road racing (file picture)

The car lost control after careering over a jump at the start of the race

Six people were killed in the crash, at Soggy Dry Lake, in the Lucerne Valley, at 8pm on Saturday. Two more died after being airlifted to hospital and at least a dozen more were being treated for their injuries yesterday.

The driver, who was not badly hurt, was escorted away by police after the crowd became abusive and rocks were thrown.

No charges have been brought against him. Officer Joaquin Zubieta, of California Highway Patrol, said: 'He got airborne and when he landed, rolled over straight into the spectators-People didn't have much of a chance to get away.'
The dead were aged from their early twenties to late forties. They were watching the 200-mile race from a spot called the 'rock pile', where the track snakes between giant boulders and up a small hill, sending many of the racers flying.


Race organisers were being questioned yesterday to determine whether sufficient safety measures were taken to protect spectators.

The crowd was standing within ten feet of the track with no guard rails separating people from the speeding vehicles. Police experts were checking the truck for mechanical defects.

David Conklin, a photographer who had been covering the event, said the car had been among the first 20 off the line and had just gone over a jump called the 'rockpile'.
He watched the vehicle sail through the air and had turned back to wait for the next one to go past when he heard a commotion.

'I heard screaming and shouting,' he said. 'I saw one woman with a major head wound lying in a pool of blood. Someone else was crushed beneath the car.'

He added: 'There was dust everywhere, people screaming, people running.'

San Bernardino County Fire sent seven ambulances and 10 aircraft to the scene.

The sheriff's spokesman Cindy Bachman said the California Highway Patrol is investigating.

Tens of thousands go to watch the California 200, where dune buggy-style cars leap jumps and other obstacles around and off-road course.

The cars reach speeds up to 100 mph on the 50-mile course. The race had been scheduled to last through the night.The crowd was standing within 10 feet of the track with no guard rails separating them from the speeding vehicles.

'There were no barriers at all,' Jeff Talbott, inland division chief for the California Highway Patrol, told the Riverside Press-Enterprise.

He said that the driver, who wasn't named, was forced to run from the scene when the crowd grew unruly and some began throwing rocks at him.

It was not clear why he lost control of the truck.

The CHP does not normally investigate crashes at organized races, but took the lead on this probe because of its scope.

The event was sponsored by the South El Monte-based Mojave Desert Racing, who were unavailable for comment today.
The crash is the latest in a series of race accidents that have proved deadly to spectators.

A car plowed into a crowd that had gathered to watch an illegal drag race on a suburban road in Accokeek, Maryland, in February 2008, killing eight people and injuring five.

The two racers were charged with vehicular manslaughter. Darren Bullock, 22, was sentenced to 15 years in prison. Tavon Taylor, 20, is awaiting trial.

In Chandler, Arizona, in February, a woman was killed by a tire that flew off a crashing dragster at Chandler's Firebird International Raceway for the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

In Selmer, Tennessee, a dragster went out of control and smashed into spectators during a fundraising festival in June 2007, killing six people and injuring 22.

Driver Troy Critchley, 38, was convicted of misdemeanor reckless assault charges and sentenced to 18 months' probation.