Mechanic files suit against track

Poor fencing, rules enforcement and driver age cited

By STEVE HORRELL , Edwardsville Intelligencer Today (Edwardsville, IL)
12/12/07

Man injured by flying tire at race

On the evening of June 4, 2004, Wayne Carson's life changed dramatically.

The 64-year-old diesel mechanic had been standing in the pit area at the Madison County Speedway in Highland when he was struck in the back of the head by a tire that had flown off one of the Hornet cars that had been racing on the oval dirt track

An ambulance nearby whisked him from the Madison County Fairgrounds at Lindendale Park down the road to St. Joseph's Hospital and for the next 33 days Carson split time between St. Louis University Trauma Center and St. Mary's Hospital.

The incident caused permanent brain damage, dizziness and memory loss, and Carson soon filed a lawsuit against the Madison County Fair Association, its treasurer and secretary Sue Zobrist and Charles DePew, who organizes and promotes races at the Highland track. The suit alleges that the 8-foot-tall fence protecting the pit area was not only in disrepair, it was too short to catch wheels and other car parts that might fly off during a race. During his opening statements, attorney Michael Bedesky countered that the fence was no different from pit fences at the region's other tracks in Godfrey, Greenville, Mount Vernon and Brownstown.

The race had been videotaped by a spectator, and Carson's attorney, Jon Carlson, showed the film to jurors on Tuesday morning, the first day of the trial. The film begins by showing several 4-cylinder Hornets jockeying for position around the quarter-mile track. About 2 1/2 minutes into the race, one of the cars loses its right front wheel. The video showed the tire spinning in the air to a height that experts later calculated to be 15 feet. The film did not capture the accident itself.

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