Driver trying to set speed record at Utah salt flats race dies after losing control

A driver going 283 mph (455 km/h) trying to set a land speed record during a racing event at Utah’s famed Bonneville Salt Flats died on Sunday after he lost control of his rocket-like vehicle called the Speed Demon, organizers said.

Driver Chris Raschke lost control about two and a half miles into a run and was treated by medical professionals at the scene, but died from his injuries, according to the Southern California Timing Association, which has organized the popular land-speed racing event known as Speed Week since the late 1940s.
For decades, the flat, glasslike white surface of Bonneville has drawn drivers from all over seeking to set new land speed world records and motorcycle and car fans to watch. A remnant of a prehistoric lakebed, the salt flats that are about 100 miles (160km) west of Salt Lake City have also been a backdrop for movies such as Independence Day and The World’s Fastest Indian.

“Motorsports is inherently a dangerous sport,” said Dennis Sullivan, a car builder and racer who set a land speed record in his 1927 Model T street roadster and serves as president of the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association. “People get hurt. People get killed. That’s just the nature of the sport. It doesn’t happen a lot.”

Sullivan said motor sports also have stringent safety requirements – such as stronger roll bars, special tires and more fire extinguishers – that help protect drivers.

The last racing death Sullivan recalled at the flats came in 2016 when Sam Wheeler, a renowned land speed motorcycle racer, crashed at 200 mph (321 km/h) when the high-performance bike he was testing fish-tailed and went airborne.

The Bonneville Salt Flats, which had its first race in 1914, have about 7 miles (11km) for racing and an aquifer underneath that cools the tires of the cars. It’s unlike other race venues in that it doesn’t have stands. Spectators must stand two-tenths of a mile away from the cars. Raschke lost control of the vehicle about two and a half miles into a run.

It’s unknown what speed Raschke was trying to reach.

The association and the Tooele county sheriff’s office are investigating the death, said Sgt Dane Lerdahl, a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency. “We know it was an accident of some sort,” Lerdahl said.

Raschke, 60, was the driver of a streamliner – a long, narrow, aerodynamic car made to run at high speeds – known as the Speed Demon. He had worked in motor sports for more than four decades.

According to the Speed Demon racing team’s site, Raschke worked at the Ventura Raceway in the early 1980s, raced three-wheelers and cars in the mini stock division, learned to fabricate and maintain race cars when working with an acclaimed engine builder, and later became a driver for the Speed Demon team. Keith Pedersen, the association’s president and Speed Week race director, said Raschke was a respected driver within the racing community and also worked for a company that makes fasteners for race cars.

“He is one of the big ones. He had done all sorts of racing,” Pedersen said.

The Race Week event began on Saturday and runs through Friday.