Dodelijk ongeval op Daytona
Quote:
Track worker struck, killed
by race car at Daytona
Paraplegic driver gained approval
to run bigger, faster tracks this winter
By DAVID POOLE
The Charlotte Observer
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - A Daytona International Speedway safety worker was killed Sunday afternoon when he was struck by a race car being driven by a paraplegic competitor in a race during activities leading up to next week's Daytona 500.
Roy H. Weaver III, a 44-year-old track crew supervisor, was picking up debris in the Turn 2 area of the 2.5-mile track after a crash during the IPower 150 when he was struck by a race car being driven by Ray Paprota.
Paprota, 41, is paralyzed from the waist down as a result of injuries he suffered in an automobile crash in 1984. He uses specially modified hand controls to accelerate, brake and change gears in his race car.
Sunday's race was the first held under authority of IPower, a sanctioning body that bought what was formerly known as the NASCAR Goody's Dash Series late last year.
Randy Claypoole, executive vice president of administration for IPower, said Daytona Beach police were leading the investigation into the incident that resulted in the 36th fatality at the Daytona speedway since it opened in 1959. A track spokesman said Weaver is the first track employee to die at the facility.
"This incident came during a caution period as the field was realigning," Claypoole said. He added that he did not know if Paprota's car made contact with any other car before hitting Weaver. "The investigation is continuing and we will review it, looking at whatever information is available and then make follow-up statements."
Claypoole said IPower Racing officials, led by race director Mark Suddreth, were controlling the race from the tower when the incident happened and were in charge of dispatching the safety vehicles.
The race had been slowed under a yellow for a wreck in Turn 4 that required Tony Billings of Pfafftown, N.C., to be cut from his car. Late Sunday, Billings was listed in stable condition at Halifax Medical Center.
Paprota's No. 0 Pontiac had failed to start when the field rolled off the starting grid. His team pushed it behind the pit wall and changed the battery. Paprota then went out onto the track. He was scored as having completed two laps at the end of the race.
"I am not sure at what speed he (Paprota) was traveling," Claypoole said. "When the field is under caution and the driver leaves the pits he is instructed to catch up to the field - and obviously at a safe speed."
Driver Danny Keaton of Charlotte was also running in the race.
"Whatever happened had already happened when I got there," Keaton said. "There was already a sheet over the gentleman. What I did see was a boot lying in the middle of the backstretch, that was about it."
The cars were stopped on pit road under a red flag while the Dash series garage was cordoned off with security workers and police. The Volusia County medical examiner came to the garage and officials took photos of Paprota's car.
More than two hours after the incident took place, but before Weaver's death was confirmed, the race was resumed and shortened from 60 to 40 laps. Claypoole called the decision to restart the event "a difficult one."
Danny Bagwell, whose Alabama-based team had helped Paprota prepare his race cars for competition, was the winner. He said he was not aware of what had happened to cause the race to be stopped.
"Ray has a dream to be involved in motorsports," Bagwell said. "I think he is a very capable race driver. I think everybody deserves an opportunity. ...He's a hard worker and we tried to help him as much as we could."
The controls in Paprota's cars use pneumatic cylinders to activate the brakes and clutch, a cable operates the throttle and a button on the transmission shifter knob changes gears.
Claypoole said he had participated in three previous Dash Series races and failed to qualify for a fourth. He was approved to compete on tracks five-eighths of a mile or shorter until this winter, when Paprota completed what Claypoole called a "stringent" rookie orientation and training and was OK'd to race at the much larger - and faster - Daytona track.
"We felt very confident he was ready to compete here," Claypoole said.
The IPower Dash Series is a racing series for small sedans with six-cylinder engines driven by mostly younger drivers looking to work their way up the competitive ladder. It operated under NASCAR sanction and sponsorship from Goody's until the end of the 2003 season.
IPower is an acronym for International Participants of Winning Edge Racing. Buck Parker is the president and chief executive officer. Parker, Claypoole and Tom Deery negotiated the purchase of the series from NASCAR for nearly a year and closed the deal late last year. The series plans a 16-race schedule this year.
Paprota was born in New Brunswick, N.J. According to a biography on his race team's Web site, he served in as a Minuteman missile technician in the Air Force from 1980 until 1984.
He lost the use of his legs when he suffered a broken back in an automobile accident in May of 1984. He trained as a wheelchair athlete and participated competitively in powerlifting, tennis and basketball. After moving to Birmingham, Ala., in 1993, he tore his rotator cuff while training for the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.
He then turned to motorsports, beginning in 1997 driving a Legends car modified with hand controls.
As his pursuit of a racing career continued, he was helped along by a number of people including former Winston Cup champion Bobby Allison. Bagwell said Paprota met Allison at a Birmingham-area hospital where both were in rehabilitation.
"When I'm in my car I have zero disabilities," Paprota said in a story that appeared on the front page of Saturday's Daytona Beach News-Journal. "When I transfer from my wheelchair to my race cars, I'm no longer a gimp. I'm Joe Racer."
Paprota was featured recently in an episode of the "Monster Garage" series on cable's Discovery channel, when a team of automotive designers helped him transform a Mercedes sport-utility vehicle into a handicapped accessible vehicle.
http://www.charlotte.com
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09-02-2004, 21:51
