videos by High Desert Racing
Las Cruces, New Mexico USA | Nov. 4, 2011 - What the heck is going on at this joint? Southern New Mexico Speedway may be one of the most dangerous places on the planet to race dirt. The top video is from last weekend and shows wonderful bravery by the first arriving safety worker (who charges into the flames to get a driver) but also a ridiculous lack of preparation by officials that resulted in an avoidable loss of race cars. The safety crew tries using water extinguishers on a gas fire, the fire truck takes nearly a full minute to arrive and another 30sec to get the water turned on! The most shocking part of this mess was that track officials chose NOT to send an ambulance to the scene and one of the firemen starts to fight with a driver and has to be restrained! We at DDTV deeply respect all safety personal for the job they do (as most are unpaid volunteers)... but this was a goat rope.
UPDATE Nov. 9 - 6pm PDT: The first video was made private (presumably at the tracks request) due to the backlash from fans and racers unhappy with what they witnessed. We at DDTV hope this report inspired SNMS and other tracks to take fire safety more seriously and supply the proper type and quantity of extinguishers to their safety personnel. Southern New Mexico Speedway is most assuredly NOT the most dangerous track in the world... but at least we got their attention and they are working to correct the problem.
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Las Cruces, New Mexico USA | Aug. 20, 2011 - People in attendance on this night reported hundreds of lightning strikes around the track throughout the evening. But apparently large metal wings and metal bleachers did not concern officials anough to stop the race. This video has been slowed to 5% of normal speed.
What a weird season at that track, but heard the ASCS show was great!
ReplyDeleteI've been to many Sprint and LMS races around this country, but to me, this is the most awful disregard for the drivers, fans, and track officials that I have ever seen. Disregarding the lightening, trying to put out SERIOUS fires with one extinguisher of the wrong type for the fire is deplorable. Thank God knowone was hurt or TRAPPED in a burning car. Do the track officials/owners understand that a drivers fire suit is only good for a matter of minutes, or even seconds. If any of the drivers had been unconscious, locked in their safety harnesses, they would be dead today. I really believe this film should be shown to ALL track owners and safety crews alike. Telling them this is NOT the correct way to handle this type of situation. Even a small local track in my area has 2 fully staffed ambulance services, and fire truck(s) on hand, in the infield, or close off the track to help in these types of incidents. Yes, most ambulance and safety crews are volunteers, but they are professionals, and conduct themselves in that manner. The drivers understand the dangers of their ventures on the track, but they do not need to have these types of situations hanging in their future. Get real Las Cruces, you should be ashamed of yourselves, you were very lucky! Enough Said!!!!
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