Three spectators were injured and transported to a local hospital following an accident at Volusia Speedway Park just east of Barberville, Fla. on Sunday night, although as of Monday one spectator has been released.
The incident occurred as Dale Blaney’s winged sprint car flipped over a fence at Turn 2 and into a spectator area, after being involved with Rico Abreu and Jason Sides. This week features the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia, for the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint series.
Via DirtRacingReport.com, Volusia has released an update on the three spectators injured. That statement is below:
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Three participants in the pit area were injured in an incident at a DIRTcar Nationals World of Outlaws event at Volusia Speedway Park Sunday night when a car went through the fence in turn two. All patients were treated by emergency personnel immediately according to safety protocol and transported to Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla.
UPDATE:
We would like to extend a thank you for everyone’s thoughts and prayers for the three participants injured in the pit area Sunday night during the 46th running of the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park.
Two of the three individuals remain in the care of medical staff at Halifax Health Medical Center in Daytona Beach, Fla. Each have family present at the hospital and have requested privacy at this time.
Michael Brooks, 69, of Kalamazoo, Mich., is one of the individuals involved. His family and friends are at Halifax Health Medical Center and have requested privacy.
Meanwhile, Gary Streek, of the United Kingdom, has been discharged. His uncle, Alan Wardel, was admitted after experiencing some discomfort while visiting Streek at Halifax, but has since been discharged as well.
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While a video of the crash had circulated on social media, it has since been deleted. According to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, accident witness Amber Janney Cox of Orange City said she watched Blaney’s car “bounce up on the grass area and then bounce up over the fence.” The full report from the News-Journal is here.
This is the second such incident at Volusia in three days, although the first on Friday night when Joey Saldana’s car flipped over the backstraight featured no injuries.
