California tragedies highlight dangers of racing

MARYSVILLE, California - Safety concerns for both drivers and fans are swirling in California after two tragic accidents over the weekend that killed the driver of a racing big rig and eight spectators of an off-road race in the desert.

In Marysville, about 40 miles north of Sacramento, Merle Shepard, the 56-year-old driver of a racing big rig, was killed when he overturned after becoming tangled with another truck.

Shepard’s truck had no roll cage, and questions remained whether there should have been one.

Shepard’s step-son told a California news station the big rig race should have never happened, saying there were so many accidents that night “it was ridiculous.”

There were two other accidents at the Marysville Raceway Park Saturday night before Shepard got tangled with another rig and flipped his truck.

Tim Ford had known Sheperd for 25 years. He’s been racing and officiating at the track for several years.

“It's a shock that happened,” Ford said. “But, I mean, it's racing, and anything can happen anytime."

8 killed in Mojave Desert Accident

That was painstakingly evident nearly 500 miles south of Marysville, also on Saturday, when 28-year-old Brett M. Sloppy lost control of a modified Ford Ranger during the annual California 200 in Lucerne Valley, near Los Angeles, plowing into a crowd of spectators, killing eight and injuring 12 more.

No barricades separate the track from spectators in the Mojave Desert race track, and the races there are infamous for fans’ ability to get so close to the action that you can literally reach out and touch the trucks as they race by.

“It's part of the excitement," said Nicky Carmikle, whose boyfriend was one of the eight people killed. "There's always that risk factor, but you just don't expect that it will happen to you."

The California Highway Patrol estimates, Sloppy – who isn’t expected to face any charges in the incident – was going about 45 to 50 miles per hour when he flipped into the crowd.

How did this happen?

Patrol officer Joaquin Zubietasaid state vehicle codes don't apply because the race was a sanctioned event held with the approval of the federal Bureau of Land Management, which owns the land used for the race.

A statement from BLM said the race organizer’s permit required races to travel just 15 miles per hour or less when within 15 feet of fans and allowed for no more than 300 spectators for the event.

But several thousand people were said to be attending the event, sprawled out along the 50-mile track.

BLM spokesman David Briery told the Associated Press the agency would cooperate with the CHP's investigation.

"We followed all our rules," he said by phone. "We don't think we did anything wrong."

Phone and e-mail messages left by the Associated Press for the race organizer, South El Monte-based Mojave Desert Racing, were not immediately returned.

The site of the crash, a stretch known as the "rockpile," is one of the most popular areas to gather because the trucks become airborne, witnesses said.

Some said they got within 4 feet of the unmarked track, watching trucks fly over a series of jumps. Several jagged rocks jut from the rutted dirt track at the bottom of the hill.

The driver "hit the rock and just lost control and tumbled," said Matt March, 24, of Wildomar, who was standing next to the jump. "Bodies went everywhere."

Other racing tragedies

The crash was the latest in a series of race accidents that have killed spectators, the latest which claimed the life of a Shawnee, Kansas teenager.

On July 31, 17-year-old Hannah Deaver was sitting in the back of a pickup truck watching the Lyon County Fair’s “Mud-A-Thon” when one of the modified pickup trucks in the event went through a guard rail, became airborne and hit the truck Deaver was sitting on.

Deaver was killed and another teenager from Independence, Missouri was injured.

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

In February 2008, a car plowed into a crowd that had gathered in Accokeek, Maryland to watch an illegal drag race on a suburban road, 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.

And in Selmer, Tenn., 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 of probation.

The Associated Press and CNN Newsource Contributed to This Report