Sad news at Madison

[Miss BK]

I just got word that a car ran into the crowd at the Madison unlimited races today, just before the Governor's Cup race. 11 people were injured - including the driver who's car ended up 20 feet into the river. The race was then cancelled.

The wife of a long time Madison race staffer was hit - (Jean Johnson, wife of Dave) she is undergoing surgery for a ruptured spleen. She's also got several broken bones. Please keep her in your prayers, along with the other injured.

From what I've read, the other injured do not have life threatening injuries, which is a miracle considering the car was travelling at 50-70 mph when it ran through the barricades and into the crowd :( .

You can keep up with Jean's condition over at the Vintage site:

http://www.network54.com/Forum/157337/

[Miss BK]

This was posted on Unlimitedsondown by my friend Paul Scurlock -- I thought it was such a poignant letter that I had to share it with you:


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Madison

I think we all know where the boat race falls on the grand scheme of things
that happened on the banks of the Ohio River today. There are two things
that stand out and will stay with me a lot longer than the river terrorizing
the unlimiteds this afternoon. The firs thing was the dozens of people coming
to the judges stand to have loved ones paged because in the aftermath they
couldn't find them...the agonizing minutes of not knowing if they were floating
somewhere in the Ohio river or being treated in an ambulance or just lost in
the mass of people; and the overwhelming joy when they showed up or a cell
phone rang letting people know they were ok.

The second thing is the fear and terror on the faces of witnesses in the
crowd, even an hour after the incident. While most teenagers are anxious to
prove how "adult" they really are, the kids of Madison that came forward to
talk to the police had that "deer in the headlights" look of someone that had
seen an event and just couldn't mentally process it, even after an hour of
playing it over and over again. Personally, that's a good thing because it
tells me that for everything they see and learn on TV, when that pops up in
real-life they still need someone to lead them through it, and that's a good
thing.

After the 7 P.M. briefing I had the opportunity to stand with Madison Mayor Al Herrington. He looked at me with a pained look and said "Bet you never thought you would have to cover this story when you came to Madison, did you Paul?" I looked at him and said "Bet you don't have to have these press
conferences very often, do you, Mr. Mayor?"

It was...and is...truly a tragedy. How can life do this? You are spending the day at a boat race, enjoying a true summertime event that you father and his father and maybe his father attended and suddenly your world is turned upside down. The answer to those questions are not ours to answer.

I can tell you this, though...the people of Madison preformed magnificently.
From police, fire, EMT's to average race fans, they all stepped up to do what needed to be done. And, for that we can all be proud because I believe if it was Detroit, Seattle or Evansville we all would have acted as well, or at least I hope so.

One last thing. while this is not a secret, it didn't come up on list, although I fully expected it to. I had the opportunity to see the work of Madison's EMT's up close and personal Saturday afternoon when I collapsed on the Judges Stand. Just dropped like a big Rhino with a perfect shot right in his tracks. I was told after waking up that my good friend Jeff Aylor started screaming on the PA for assistance and when I came back from wherever it was I had gone, there were six EMT's making sure I was ready for the next round.

After convincing them I was OK and more hot than anything, Bruce Madej and Denny Jackson got me back to my hotel and on the road to recovery. All day today I had people checking up on me and making sure I was plenty hydrated...people from Sam Cole to the same unnamed to me EMT's that had
responded to me yesterday. And I truly thank them for it all. Our thought's and prayers are with you tonight, we thank you and look forward to our next visit.

Paul Scurlock, Detroit

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Miss BK]

Here are the full details from the Madison Courier, including names of those injured:

http://www.madisoncourier.com/main.asp?sectionID=4&SubSectionID=253&ArticleID=30954

They still don't know why the driver sped through the crowd, but he claims to have passed out just before the crash and doesn't know what happened.

Another scary thing is that Madison Vintage coordinator (Joe Johnson - brother in law of Jean) had just stepped off of his golf cart when the car slammed into it, hurling it 20 feet into the river. I can't even imagine how terrifying this whole scene must have been. On Unlimitedsondown, people who saw it are still in shock today.

I'm praying for them all.

PHOTOS (http://madisoncourier.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=145933)