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Fans remember driver who died in first place
By TAMARA LUSH, Times Staff Writer GIBSONTON -- One day after Ronald Laney died on the East Bay Raceway's No. 2 turn, corn dogs were frying, country music was playing and race cars were still sending chunks of mud into the stands. But the sad smiles and frequent hugs being exchanged here Thursday night made it clear that the fatal crash had sobered the event. "There's been a lot of tears around here," said track owner Stanley Kolan. About 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, Laney, 29, was driving in a qualifying race. He was in first place when he crashed on the third lap of the 15-lap race. As he exited the turn, Laney slammed into the outside wall at between 70 and 90 mph. The car spun around and was hit on the driver's side by another car. According to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's office, Laney died instantly from neck injuries. "The medical examiner told us that if a surgeon was here on the spot, it wouldn't have helped," Kolan said. The crash was the second fatality in the track's 26-year history. On Thursday night, fans settled into the hard benches with their seat cushions and tall cans of Budweiser, ready to watch the second night of qualifying for the 4th Annual King of the 360s, one of the best-known sprint car races in the region. The annual race was Laney's favorite, and he hoped to win this year. He won in 2000 and wore the trophy -- a gaudy red crown -- for days. "He paraded up and down with it on," Kolan remembers. "To Ybor City, to Gasparilla." Laney drove to the race from Texas with his dog, Checkers. The two of them arrived in a gleaming white semitrailer truck, hauling his red sprint car, No. 52. "I never saw him do anything but smile," Kolan said. Laney, who started racing in 1991, was a second-generation sprint car driver. His father had flown in Wednesday to watch the race. He was in the pit when Laney crashed. Like the other drivers, Laney had tried to take precautions. Sprint car drivers ride on what amounts to pipes and a motor. They wear a flame-retardant suit, a helmet and a five-point seat belt that snakes over the shoulders, around the waist and over the groin. Help also sits on the sidelines: three Jaws of Life machines, a fire engine, an ambulance and a tank filled with a special substance to extinguish fires. But as one fan pointed out, every driver knows the risks. Gene Wodzicki of Lutz was in the stands watching when Laney crashed. "I've seen crashes and stuff before," Wodzicki said. "It's part of the game." As the sprint cars sent ear-piercing howls around the track Thursday, Wodzicki affixed a sticker to the window of his black Ford van. "In memory of Ron Laney," it said, reminiscent of the stickers, T-shirts and bags memorializing a more famous race car driver, Dale Earnhardt. Wodzicki didn't know Laney and didn't follow his career. But he admired the way he died. "The man did what he loved and he died in first place," Wodzicki said.
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