A 2005 Chevrolet SSR, of all things, struck a crowd of pedestrians when trying to pass a Jeep Patriot in the parking lot outside Martinsville Speedway last night, WSLS reports. Crowds in the parking lot were leaving the NASCAR race at Martinsville.
The crash happened outside Turn 2 of the speedway around 5:38 p.m. last night, about an hour after the race ended, reports WSLS. Twenty-two people in total were injured with ages ranging from 13 to 65, including 13 treated on-site for minor injuries and nine transported to local hospitals for non-life-threatening injuries.
Fans that were struck by the Chevrolet were near the helipad where drivers were going after the race. Eyewitness Russell Tipton told Fox Sports:
We were just standing there watching people get on the helicopter and what have you and there was a big cluster of people. Some guy … I don’t know what his deal was. I heard him gas it up and he just run right through the crowd, running over people. It was crazy.
Witnesses on the scene say that the man appeared to act intentionally, as Joel Fulp explained to Fox Sports:
He drove right through us. He stopped and looked at us as and looked me right in the eye and … he said, “F—- this,” and drove right down through the middle of the crowd.
Charges are pending against the driver, the station reported. Alcohol does not appear to have been a factor in this crash.