Race fans who were present when a woman was killed by a tire that flew off a crashing dragster said yesterday that they feel safe at the track despite the weekend accident in suburban Phoenix.
Many of the fans who returned to Chandler's Firebird International Raceway for the NHRA Arizona Nationals yesterday said that it was a freak accident that won't stop them from attending.
They also said they hope that NHRA officials won't add netting or otherwise restrict how they watch races. Some fans choose to stand about 50 feet from the action, separated from the track by a chest-high wall.
"I just hope that nobody decides they want to change the sport because something horrible happened. It's bound to happen in any sport," specatator Sheila Cahill said.
The victim was attending a first-round Top Fuel run Sunday when Antron Brown's Matco Tools/U.S. Army dragster went out of control on the strip and its left-rear wheel came off and hit the woman, who later died at a hospital. Her identity had not been released as of last night.
Humpy Wheeler, the president of a racing management consulting firm, said that track operators typically take a hard look at safety anytime a spectator is injured. Wheeler did that himself when he was president of Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1999 when a wheel flew into the grandstands during an IndyCar race, killing three people.
"We thought we were one of the safer tracks on the circuit," he said. "With auto racing, you're dealing with controlled violence. And just about the time you think everything is OK, some bizarre thing you never thought about happens."
Yesterday's results
Top fuel: 1. Cory McClenathan; 2. Doug Kalitta; 3. Morgan Lucas; 4. Steve Torrence; 5. Tony Schumacher; 6. Troy Buff; 7. David Grubnic; 8. Steven Chrisman; 9. Brandon Bernstein; 10. Andy Carter; 11. Mike Strasburg; 12. Larry Dixon; 13. Chris Karamesines; 14. Shawn Langdon; 15. Terry McMillen; 16. Antron Brown.
Funny car: 1. Jack Beckman, Dodge Charger; 2. John Force; 3. Tony Pedregon; 4. Robert Hight; 5. Ashley Force Hood; 6. Ron Capps; 7. Matt Hagan; 8. Jim Head; 9. Tim Wilkerson; 10. Del Worsham; 11. Bob Tasca III; 12. Cruz Pedregon; 13. Gary Densham; 14. Jeff Arend; 15. Melanie Troxel; 16. Paul Lee.
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