Disaster at Lowes Track

[Liz]

All i saw about this was the headline that a bridge collapsed and more than 100 people were injured. Who can tell me what happened?

And is this not the same track where people were killed at an IRL race recently? I thought they were going to close this track after that happened?

[Lee]

Looks like it was pretty bad, but it could have been much worse. Fortunatly there were no cars, or people underneath the bridge when it colapsed. Prayers to the injured and their families.

[Jared]

No, they weren't going to close the speedway after the IRL accident. The IRL did not return there this year.

What happened was that the bridge just gave way and buckled onto the roadway. I've heard reports that range from 75 to over 100 people on the bridge. It's one of the standard-style bridges one would see over the interstate. As of today, there are only three people in critical condition. Thankfully, there were no deaths.

Quite a shame after such a great race. Prayers go out to the victims and families.

[Jared]

There's a picture of the bridge at: www.speedvision.com/pub/articles/racing/02NASCAR/000521b.html

[Liz]

Terrible. They said the bands gave way from corrosion - I can smell lawsuits coming ... thank God there were no deaths (at least that I have heard about) and most of the injuries were not life-threatening.