An up-and-coming teenage race car driver from the North Bay crashed his car during a warm up Saturday killing two people.
The driver, Chase Johnson, 17, was driving warm-up laps at the Marysville Raceway Park when his car went out of control and killed two people including Johnson’s 14 year old cousin and an unidentified 68-year-old man, the Press Democrat reported Sunday. Marysville is about 45 minutes north of Sacramento.
Johnson is from the Sonoma county town of Penngrove. He attends Petaluma High. The fatal crash happened when Johnson was driving “hot laps,” a practice routine that is a favorite among race fans. Witnesses say the accident happened when Johnson approached the first turn on the quarter-mile banked clay oval.
Johnson’s car shot off the race track ramp and into a concrete barrier upon which the victims were apparently sitting, Blakesley said.
“He went off the off-ramp at full speed, so I estimate it at 90 mph. My original concern was for Chase himself because of the impact, but I guess he was able to walk away,” the announcer said.
The 68-year-old man who was killed was declared dead on the scene. The 14-year-old boy was declared dead on the way to a hospital or at the hospital, a Yuba County Sheriff official told the Marysville Appeal-Democrat.
The story of a race track accident killing two made headlines across the world and has shaken the town of Marysville.
KXTV, the ABC station in Sacramento, reported the 14-year-old boy was Johnson's cousin.
Johnson’s Web site noted that he is a Petaluma High School senior and a fourth-generation race car driver. The YouTube video on the below is of the teen at a championship in 2012. There was no mention on the Web site of Saturday night deadly crash that killed two. Johnson's YouTube video site is here.
A video report of the race car crash that killed 2 Saturday can be found on CBS 13's Web site here.
Please feel free to leave any comments on this tragic story below.
Comments