Sedalia, Mo. (AP) -- A stock racing car hurtled over a fence into a crowd at the Missouri Fair Saturday, killing four persons and injuring 14 others in view of 10,000 horrified spectators.
About 50 persons had slipped into a restricted area behind the fence at the first turn south of the grandstand and a highway patrol trooper, W. P. Cooper, was walking over to move them back when the car slammed end-over-end into the group. Cooper said he had warned them by loudspeaker to move a few minutes earlier. The crowd in the grandstands gasped as the car hit the people. Then there was a deathly silence. "There was an eerie stillness in the crowd," said Trooper W. D. Ryan of St. Louis, "and even before I could see the bodies on the ground I knew it was bad. A crowd won't get too close when there's death before them."
The car was driven by BILL CRANE of Liberty, Mo., who was making a time trail prior to the 100-mile feature race. His right front tire blew out going into the turn and the 1964 Dodge flipped over the guard rail and fence. CRANE, apparently unhurt, quickly climbed back on the track and waved his arms as a signal that he was all right.
Then there were screams from relatives of the victims. One woman cried, "They're mine! They're mine!" as she found two crumpled children.
The dead were:
MRS. JACQUELINE BOGARD, St. Louis County, Mo.
GLENN S. TAYLOR, Maysville, Mo.
WILLIAM E. McCARTNEY, 21, Amity, Mo.
RICKIE BRANDT, 4, Wichita, Kan.
At least two of the injured were reported in critical condition. Several of the injured were children.
Race officials said it was the worst racing accident in Missouri.
Sedalia, Mo. (AP) -- A stock racing car hurtled over a fence into a crowd at the Missouri Fair Saturday, killing four persons and injuring 14 others in view of 10,000 horrified spectators.
About 50 persons had slipped into a restricted area behind the fence at the first turn south of the grandstand and a highway patrol trooper, W. P. Cooper, was walking over to move them back when the car slammed end-over-end into the group. Cooper said he had warned them by loudspeaker to move a few minutes earlier. The crowd in the grandstands gasped as the car hit the people. Then there was a deathly silence. "There was an eerie stillness in the crowd," said Trooper W. D. Ryan of St. Louis, "and even before I could see the bodies on the ground I knew it was bad. A crowd won't get too close when there's death before them."
The car was driven by BILL CRANE of Liberty, Mo., who was making a time trail prior to the 100-mile feature race. His right front tire blew out going into the turn and the 1964 Dodge flipped over the guard rail and fence. CRANE, apparently unhurt, quickly climbed back on the track and waved his arms as a signal that he was all right.
Then there were screams from relatives of the victims. One woman cried, "They're mine! They're mine!" as she found two crumpled children.
The dead were:
MRS. JACQUELINE BOGARD, St. Louis County, Mo.
GLENN S. TAYLOR, Maysville, Mo.
WILLIAM E. McCARTNEY, 21, Amity, Mo.
RICKIE BRANDT, 4, Wichita, Kan.
At least two of the injured were reported in critical condition. Several of the injured were children.
Race officials said it was the worst racing accident in Missouri.
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