News, No Guard Rails Where Dragster Hit Crowd in Tennessee, Killing 6 (driver, accident)

[JD59]

SELMER, Tenn. — One day after a drag-racing car careened into a crowd and killed six people, witnesses questioned on Sunday why the driver was allowed to speed down a highway with no guard rails, lined on both sides by hundreds of spectators.

"It ain't really safe to do anything with drag cars on a city street," said 19-year-old Garett Moore, who said he was about 15 feet away from the wreck, but was uninjured. "They shouldn't have done it."

Tennessee Highway Patrol spokesman Mike Browning said the six killed were in their teens or early 20s. The accident injured at least 18 others, including a 5-year-old boy, who were taken to hospitals in Tennessee and Mississippi.

FOXNews.com - No Guard Rails Where Dragster Hit Crowd in Tennessee, Killing 6 - Local News | News Articles | National News | US News

[unknown stuntman]

I couldn't believe this story. I'm sure I'll be called naive and such for not seeing the point to these drag races, but this is just sheer stupidity for this sort of sanctioned event to be going on. And while I usually get on the "Monday Morning QB" types and the second-guessers, this was so clearly avoidable. Accidental senseless tragedy almost beyond my wildest comprehensions.

[da jammer]

I've drag raced at local tracks for years and it's a blast but let me tell you the folks running the strips do NOT put up with any screwing around whatsoever. After watching the video a few times I can't help but think there may have been a mechanical failure that contributed to this terrible incident. Anybody that has been to the track knows well that a burn out only lasts a few seconds and for a short distance. I want to think that was the plan here too. Very sad for those killed and injured and their families.