Sprint Car Crash Kills Track Worker At Williams Grove

Williams Grove in Pennsylvania

A track volunteer was killed on Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway after a Sprint Car flipped over into the infield and struck him.

The victim was Richard E. Speck Jr, 67, and he was pronounced dead at the scene as a result of numerous traumatic injuries according to the Cumberland County (Pa.) coroner’s office.

Speck operated one of the push trucks that are needed to push start Sprint Cars since they do not have on-board starters. Speck was sitting in the back of his truck, parked alongside the fence when the car driven by Robbie Kendall crashed into another driven by Anthony Macri, jumped over the barrier and into Speck.

The drivers were not injured.

The crash remains under investigation by the state police, the Cumberland County coroner’s office and track officials, the press release said.

Friday night’s feature race, according to Williams Grove’s website, was the Billy Kimmel Memorial for the Lawrence Chevrolet 410 sprint cars, part of the 2019 Yellow Breeches 500 series.

The annual Billy Kimmel Memorial for 410 sprint cars is run in honor of Billy Kimmel of Mechanicsburg. Kimmel was fatally injured in a sprint car racing accident at Williams Grove in 2007. He was 27 years old.

Williams Grove Speedway immediately canceled the remainder of the night’s racing activities.

Due to the severity of the accident, we have been forced to cancel the remainder of tonight’s racing program. Freddie Rahmer has been declared the winner of tonight’s event.

— Williams Grove (@WilliamsGrove) August 3, 2019