(Press Release from American-Canadian Tour)
The 41st Labor Day Classic at Barre’s Thunder Road has been postponed due to an on-track accident that occurred during qualifying.
An announcement regarding the completion of the program will be made later this week.
Near the conclusion of a qualifying race on Sunday, a race car flew over a retaining wall and struck two track officials.
The officials were transported from the track for further treatment and evaluation. Both officials were awake and alert at the time of their departure. No other information is currently available.
Out of respect to those involved, drivers from all divisions voted to postpone the completion of the event. Information regarding rain checks will be announced at the same time as the make-up date.
American-Canadian Tour (ACT) qualifying was partially complete at the time of the accident with Tyler Cahoon, Dylan Payea, and Ryan Kuhn taking wins in the heat races.
For more information, contact the ACT/Thunder Road offices at (802) 244-6963, [email protected], [email protected], or visit www.acttour.com or www.thunderroadvt.com.
God Bless all of the people involved.
I was a young family man with my wife and two children in the bleachers when Corkie Cookman went into the stands and missed us in 1983. 30 people injured. some seriously. No deaths but lives changed forever.
Thankfully it was not for nothing. Look at the Stafford barriers now and other tracks as well. I think of that night every time I see that thick cables running along the front stretch.
It’s racing. No matter what precautions you taken bad things can happen.
Best wishes to Thunder Road and those affected.
I was also there that night Doug, although sitting closer to turn 1 past the start finish line, was very scary thing to witness, I agree thank god no one was killed, we all take things for granted sometimes but these are FAST MACHINES that anything can happen even with the BEST safety measures.
We weren’t there that night. We were at Riverside Park. Thank God because that’s where we sat!
Seems crazy in this day age that could still happen. The older tracks are great places for racing but the faculties in many cases leave a lot to be desired. In my mind (and I love the place..again) but Star is the one place that scares me. You’ll never find me in that turn 3-4 pit stand there..no way. I’m sure T Road will make some adjustments going forward. Prayers to those injured.
Crazy, I agree with your assessment of Star but for different reasons. That track has people all over the infield and pit exit with no protection. The track cleanup crew makes me cringe everytime I go. This after a fatality about 10 yrs ago. I wish they would take a lesson from the Stafford Safety Crew.
While on this topic, how come Thompson doesn’t have a turn one fence?
I was very young at the time. One Saturday night at Riverside, a modified somehow got airborn going into turn 1, and went through the Armco barrier, ending up in the pits. Sadly the driver passed away. His first name was Dave, forget the last name. Hopefully all the people at Thunder Road make full and speedy recoveries.
It was David Furioni and he didn’t go into the pits as I recall. My recollection is that he broke through the bottom rail of the Armco barrier and the top stayed in place.
“My recollection is that he broke through the bottom rail of the Armco barrier and the top stayed in place”
This happened in other series as well in the 70’s, including F1 at Watkins Glen. The result was never good…
Best wishes to the Thunder road workers. I am hoping for a speedy recovery for those guys.Thunder Road did announce a make-up date of 9/14, unfortunately the same night as tri track at Mad Dog. It stinks but being so late in the season not much can be done.
I will agree that Star Speedway has a scary set up especially for open wheel mods and supers. Personally I wont walk along the front stretch with cars at speed on the track. I saw a 350 super get into the front stretch catch fence a few years ago. I thought he was going to get into the stands which are probably 15 to 20 feet from the retaining wall. I remember an sk getting over the front stretch wall at Thompson and coming to rest near the starters stand. It seems the pavement cars are a little more grounded. The dirt sprint cars when they get flipping seem to leave the racing surface more frequently. Earlier this year there was an incident at Williams Grove PA in which a track worker died from a flipping sprint car.
Like I said, I was very young at that time. I was at Stafford when Tony J. hit in turn 1. We we’re sitting in the front row of the pit stands. It was so weird because it seemed like slow motion, but I’ll never forget how far to the right his head moved. I turned to my brother in law and said ” he’s gone” it was very sad to see. A few years later my brother in law hit the same spot in his late model, the right front corner of the car was stuffed back at least 2 feet, and it actually twisted the cross member. Believe it or not the motor was not hurt even though the tranny’s broke in half. Jim had some bad deep bruise’s but thankfully was not seriously injured. Does make you stop and think. Unfortunately the aggressiveness the drivers have today will most likely end in tragedy.
There is always the big incidents that garner attention but also a number of small ones that get little notice.
Last week at Spencer two spotters for the Lewis brothers standing next to each other were hit with the same chunk of lead that broke off one car and was picked by a wheel and flung over the fence and hit them on the the top row. Being night time they never saw it. One went to the hospital for stitches in his foot.
This game we so love requires constant due diligence all the time as perils lurk everywhere.