Chris Raschke, 60, was going 283 mph in his rocket-like car at the Speed Week racing event at the Bonneville Salt Flats
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.”
