Motorsports

Major incidents of fan deaths

By Times Staff Writer
Published June 11, 2005

JUNE 11, 1955: More than 80 people, including driver Pierre Levegh, are killed in the worst auto racing accident in history at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France. Levegh (whose given name was Pierre Bouillon), driving a Mercedes Benz 300 SLR, clipped another car and slammed into an earth bank. The car exploded and the engine, rear axel and other parts flew into the crowd. Mercedes Benz left racing at the end of the season, not to return for more than 30 years. A few countries banned racing; Switzerland's ban stands to this day.

MAY 12, 1957: Alfonso de Portago, co-driver Ed Nelson and 10 spectators are killed at the Mille Miglia, a famed street race in Italy; the event was never run again.

SEPT. 10, 1961: Fourteen fans and driver Wolfgang von Trips are killed at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza when von Trips' Ferrari veers off course after colliding with Jim Clark's Lotus.

APRIL 27, 1975: Four fans are killed when Rolf Stommolen's car veers off course at the Spanish Grand Prix in Barcelona at the Montjuich street circuit. There was trouble even before the race as the Grand Prix Drivers' Association briefly went on strike before practice, unhappy about the insufficient barriers. Formula One never raced at the circuit again.

OCT. 23, 1977: Two fans die at the Japanese Grand Prix in Fuji when Gilles Villeneuve's car veers off the road after a collision with Ronnie Peterson and lands in a restricted area.

MAY 24, 1987: Lyle Kurtenbach, 42, of Rothschild, Wis., is struck by a tire that comes off Tony Bettenhausen's car on Lap 130 of the Indy 500. The tire bounces off the front of the car driven by Roberto Guerrero and sails 30 feet to the top row of the grandstand between Turns 3 and 4. Kurtenbach is the 10th spectator killed in 500 history.

1996: During an NHRA race at Warrenton, Va., a spectator in the grandstand is killed and her son critically injured by an out-of-control dragster.

JULY 26, 1998: Three spectators are killed and six others injured at the CART U.S. 500 at Michigan International Speedway when Adrian Fernandez's car crashes, hurtling a tire and other car parts into the grandstand in Turn 4. It was the first time in more than a decade spectators were killed at a major race. Kenneth Dale Fox, 38, of Lansing, Mich.; and Sheryl Ann Laster, 40, and Michael Terry Tautkus, 49, both of Milan, Mich., are killed. The safety fences at the high-banked 2-mile oval are extended before the next race, a NASCAR event in August.

MAY 1, 1999: Three fans are killed, eight injured at the IRL VisionAire 500 at Concord, N.C. John Paul Jr. and Stan Wattles hit the wall in Turn 4 and spin down the frontstretch. Scott Harrington's car is collected and debris from the crash flies into the stands.

Times staff writer Jim Tomlin compiled this list using Times files.

[Last modified June 11, 2005, 00:26:12]