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INDUSTRY, CA., Aug. 6 � A loud, frightening sidecar crash during event 41 of 42 at Industry Speedway in The Grand arena Wednesday ended racing for the night during week 14 of the 20 week season. Promoter Jeff Immediato and racing officials canceled the sidecar and 500-cc Division 1 speedway cycle features with the 10:00 pm curfew imminent. A four team 1,000-cc motorcycle and sidecar field, which races clockwise on the dirt oval, was on the second of four laps when a stuck throttle on the second place team occurred and led to the serious crash. Driver Scott Driggers and sidecar passenger Sean Driggers (his nephew) entered the third turn (turn two of the speedway cycle track) at about 65 mph according to race leader Joe Jones, president of the Extreme Sidecar Series. Both Driggers tried to bail off the speeding cycle and sidecar just before it slammed into the five-feet high wooden crash-wall that serves as a safer barrier with energy absorption capability. The cycle punched a hole at the base of the wooden wall and lifted it several feet. Both men slid under the wall to the concrete wall behind it and became entangled with their cycle and the wooden wall. They were unconscious for about two minutes according to Jones who dismounted and rushed to the scene.
The two Driggers regained consciousness and complained about neck and back pain. Track-side medical staff quickly attended to both men on the ground and installed neck and back braces. City of Industry/Los Angeles County Fire Department paramedics arrived at the scene soon in addition to an ambulance. The AMR ambulance transported both injured riders to Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, a trauma hospital in Los Angeles, for evaluation and treatment. On Thursday medical reports said driver Scott Driggers underwent surgery Wednesday evening and remained in the Intensive Care Unit with a broken pelvis and other injuries. He underwent treatment Thursday to stem internal bleeding and was incubated. Sean Driggers was treated for a broken nose and discharged from the hospital. His uncle was relatively stable and was able to write messages on a small slate.
The stunning crash shocked and silenced the estimated crowd of 900, which had pushed the riders purse over the guarantee to the 10% overage of the basic purse for the first time this season. The large crowd had bought $1,006 in 50/50 raffle tickets that added $503 to the riders purse. The five riders who made the canceled Division 1 main event were semi-final winners Shawn McConnell and Buck Blair. Semi-final runners-up Jason Ramirez, 16, and Shaun Harmatiuk and last chance 4-lap race winner Ricky Wells, 17 completed the canceled feature field. All five riders divided the regular purse and the 50/50 purse equally. Ramirez led the first three laps in his semi-final before McConnell passed him on the inside entering turn one on the final lap. Blair and Wells led all four laps of their qualifying races.
Charlie Venegas, an eight-time D-1 feature winner at Industry this season, had "a flat engine" all night and dropped out of his third heat race. He scored 3 points and did not make a semi-final race for the eight highest point riders in three rounds of heat races. There were 12 D-1 riders present. Venegas, the promoter of the new speedway cycle racing track at Solano County Fairgrounds in Vallejo, his original hometown, said his seven-week season on Saturday nights has been attracting about 40 riders and is successful. Neil Facchini was the high-point rider for the night at Industry with seven points for his two heat victories and a third place. He finished fourth in his semi-final race and did not make the feature. Four riders scored 6-points and three riders tallied 5-points. Eddie Castro, Jimmy Fishback and Facchini failed to transfer from the last chance 4-lap race. Only winner Wells, who showed no ill-effects from his hard fall at the track last week, transferred from the last chance race to the feature.
Winners of completed main events Wednesday were Bryan Buffington, of Orange, in a six-rider 500-cc Division 2 (intermediate-level) field, and Chris Thomas, of San Bernardino, in a four-rider, 500-cc D-3 (novice) field. Youth main event winners (under age 16) were Huntington Beach residents Austin Novratil, 13, and Rocco Scopellite, 12, on 250-cc cycles. Matthew Duffy, age 7 from Rossmoor, led all four laps of the six-rider pee-wee main event on his 50-cc mini cycle..
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