Bonneville Speedway • One person was killed and five injured — all of whom were said to be members of support crews for racing drivers — in a head-on crash involving a pickup truck and a minivan at western Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats Speedway on Wednesday morning.
The crash occurred on an access road that connects the entrance of the Speedway to the pit, according to Southern California Timing Association President and Event Director Pat McDowell. The wide, salty access road is separated from the racetrack with cones, and has a speed limit of 55 mph.
Tooele County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Johnson said that the pickup veered into the path of the van. The person killed was a male occupant of the pickup, he said.
Two people were in the minivan, and four in the truck, said McDowell. The pickup contained one bench, but McDowell said all four occupants had been riding inside the cab.
The two vehicles were carrying support crews for two of the out-of-state racing teams, according to McDowell.
“The cars they were connected to are all common racing drivers,” McDowell said.
Shirley Hicks, who is part of a competing team at Speed Week on the salt flats, told The Tribune that the injured were in vehicles that were coming and going to the competition. Hicks said one of the vehicles rolled following impact.
The teams and drivers connected to the victims were not immediately released. They were taken by medical helicopter and ambulance to the University Medical Center.
Bucky Whitehouse, director of Tooele County Emergency Services said the accident at the raceway, located 90 miles west of Salt Lake City and just east of Wendover, had been called in at 8:51 a.m. He said three medical helicopters were dispatched to the scene.
The collision was the second to happen at the Bonneville Speedway this week, after 61-year-old racer Jake Bateman, of Ontario, Canada, crashed his coupe while going 209 mph on Sunday. His injuries were not life-threatening.
Although earlier in the week racers had commented on looser-than-normal salt creating less-than-ideal conditions, McDowell said loose salt didn’t contribute to Wednesday’s crash.
“It shook me up,” McDowell said. “It probably shook everyone here up.”
Races resumed at 11:50 a.m.
The Tribune will update this story as more details are available.