Driver in South Bend Motor Speedway crash credits quick help from safety crews and bystanders
SOUTH BEND, Ind. --- Three people were hit in a crash at the South Bend Motor Speedway on Saturday night. All three suffered minor injuries after a car went into a gate where they were standing, one was taken to the hospital for non-critical injuries.
“We want to go out there and compete and have a good time, and make sure everybody leaves safe. And last night, I don’t even know how to explain it,” says Shane Horner, one of the drivers involved in the crash.
It was a typical Saturday night at South Bend Motor Speedway until things took a scary turn.
“All I know is that we were coming out of turn two and next thing I know I was against the wall,” recalls Horner.
Two of the drivers on the track collided, sending one car into a gate in the pit area hitting three Speedway workers. All suffered minor injuries, and one was taken to the hospital. One day after though, everyone involved is doing okay. Horner says that’s because of the quick response from everyone there.
“Every driver that was still there, track safety, and everybody coming across the track to get there, everybody was one hundred percent focused on the safety of everybody that was there,” Horner says.
Another regular at the Speedway, Jamie Scott, echoes the fact that safety is the number one priority for everyone on and around the track. She knows this from personal experience.
“Back in June, my husband and my step-daughter actually got in pretty bad accidents. Her car was actually totaled, and ours was flipped,” says Scott. “The safety crew just rushing to everybody and making sure they’re okay and evaluating the situations along with the people that were in the pits. Spectators that were back there, and other racers.”
Horner says with this accident coming off the track, the teamwork from everyone involved prevented the situation from being much worse.
“If everybody would have just turned their back and walked away and been like ‘Oh wow, that was a bad accident, just let the safety crew handle it’, things could have been a lot worse,’” says Horner. “The response from every driver there and every safety official there was to make sure everybody is safe.”
For everyone at the Speedway on a Saturday night, the care for the racing community is what comes first, and is what helps the people involved in accidents like this one.
“It’s not even just about the safety team, it’s about just the whole community that we all have there,” says Scott.
“On the track, yes, we are competitors. As soon as we fall off the track, we are back to being who we are,” Horner says. “There’s always that race track community.”
Horner also says he hopes the next owners of the South Bend Motor Speedway will take safety just as seriously as the current owners, as well as learn from the accident to prevent any more from coming off the track.