>From the Bakersfield newspaper. It was a non-racing accident.
September 27, 2004
Section: Local
Page: b1
Two men die in crash on Buttonwillow track
MARK BARNA, Californian staff writere-mail: mbarna@bakersfield.com
Two men were killed Sunday at Buttonwillow Raceway when their convertible
sports car overturned while motoring on the track during a non-racing event.
The
driver, Ronald Burnett, 46, of Cypress, died while being transported by
helicopter to Kern Medical Center, said Kelly Cowan, deputy coroner of the Kern
County Sheriff's Department. The passenger, Ronald Yates, 70, of Mohave Valley,
Ariz., was pronounced dead at the scene.
Both men were wearing a seat belt and helmet, Cowan said.
The accident occurred during a mid-day drive-around in which visitors pay a
fee to motor their cars on the Buttonwillow Raceway track. Burnett was driving
an Austin Healy, a convertible that racers at the track said was a street
vehicle with no roll bar or other safety accouterments found on race cars.
Buttonwillow Raceway officials were not available late Sunday afternoon for
comment on the wreck.
Bakersfield residents Martin and Twila Willey, there to race their Formula V
car, were having lunch in the racers parking area when the accident occurred.
They were about a quarter-mile from the accident site, which is near a remote
stretch of track called Lost Hill, known to racers as Magic Mountain.
"I just heard an ambulance and everyone started running," Twila WIlley said.
After the rise and fall of Lost Hill, the track straightens out, then is
followed by a sharp C-turn called the Sweeper. It is this general area where
the
accident occurred, Twila Willey said. Martin Willey said he typically motors
around the Sweeper at 70 mph in his Formula V.
Willey said he feels safe on the track because his race car has roll bars,
and he wears a seat belt and a helmet. But he acknowledges that things can go
wrong quickly.
"It's a dangerous sport," he said.
Tom Butters
The Greens Fork Group
Communication Counselors
765 886 5553
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