Spectators killed and injured at California 200 desert race
 

A crash during the California 200 race in Johnson Valley, California Saturday night left eight people dead and multiples injured when a race truck careened off course and into the crowd lining the race track. It is common for spectators at this type of race to stand as close as possible to the action, even [...]

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watch the video the guy was hammering it thru a heavily occuppied spectators area the trucks before him backed off before entering he did not I guess the beat the piss out of the driver and he ran away ...stupid+horsepower machine = 8 dead

How is this the drivers fault, it's a race on a closed course. Going fast and pushing the limits is the name of the game! It's the spectators fault for being less than a foot off of the track next to a jump, what do you think was going to happen?! I saw the vid and I'm surprised they all didn't die. Darwin wins again...

Well I'm gonna say a small piece here. The driver is an experienced driver, I know him, some of the deceased, injured and my sister was on the other side of the track when it happened. She was administering first aid to a close friend of hers who died at the hospital. With that being said, Sloppy (the driver) was just driving in an off road race and crashed, it just so happens that there were people too close (there is a 100ft rule). So say what you will on who's "fault" it is but remember that Sloppy was behind the wheel of something that killed one of his own friends. I'm sure he doesn't need armchair quarterbacks speculating for him.

Well if there is a 100ft rule somebody should be inforcing it, the video I saw showed spectators 1 foot from racing trucks :s: I don't see how anybody can blame the driver for racing I thought that was the Idea of a race

This frustrated me!! I can't believe they'd go after the driver for this! Even crazier, I looked up other track/drag racing events that caused catastrophe and they all went after the drivers, not the track owners, but the drivers!:humm: (just needed to vent a little..)

Do you know why a captain always goes down with his ship?

Because as the captain/pilot/driver you and you alone are solely responsible for it's operation now that being said the guy didn't slow down at all it's evident just by watching the video the lives of those 8 people are on his head unless there was something mechanically wrong with the vehicle ....which I doubt he came in waaaayyyy to fast the crowd being bunched up in what looked like a downhill curve didn't help things either the perfect things fell into place poor driving / road conditions / spectators too close the end result 8 dead

I would hate to have to live with that on my conscience for the rest of my life he won't live it down ....

They didnt go after the driver, that part of the story was FALSE he was on the scene helping as well and giving statements to the investigators

what really happened .....the video just shows him coming into the turn/downhill grade and then people start screaming ..........no up close photos have been shown of the scene if this was another country they would show people breathing their last breath I have seen alot of tasteless video where this is done after motorcycle and car crashes ...like it's some kind of hobby if I saw someone personally shooting video like that at a crash scene they will be riding along with the victims and it won't be to film the ride in the ambulance that much is sure...

It is very unfortunate that this happened, but there is NO way that anyone can fault the driver. As a spectator at an event like this, you have to take your life into your own hands. There is no way to "fence" a race like this or even patrol every section. IIRC, it was a 50 mile course, there's NO WAY you can police a track that big. There are people hit/injured in corners/jump areas more often than in the news, but its usually minor stuff, not 8 people dying. The families of those killed are in my thoughts and prayers, but this was NOT the driver's fault.

How can you say he was going too fast? He was on a clearly marked race course, racing against the clock. The whole point is to go as fast as you can. Accidents happen, I can garuntee you that he didn't plan to roll the truck at all, let alone roll it into the spectators. All the yahoos that keep blaming the driver need to get a life. The people that go to these races have seen plenty of wrecks before and know what can happen when a race vehicle wrecks off-road. It was their responsibility to stay back a safe distance and unfortunately they weren't far enough.