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A tragedy on Sunday at the Bonneville Salt Flats during SpeedWeek resulted in the death of driver Chris Raschke. The 60-year-old was pushing to set a new land speed record at about 3 pm on Sunday when he lost control of his purpose-built vehicle, wrecking out on the unforgiving landscape.
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Raschke wrecked out at about the 2.5 mile make on the Salt Flats, say the Southern California Timing Association. Paramedics who were on the scene in case of an incident rushed to given the man treatment, however he succumbed to his injuries.
He was driving a vehicle called the Speed Demon 715, which has set a long list of speed records in the past several years. The goal was to hit 500 mph, the first piston-driven vehicle to hit such a lofty speed.
Because Raschke died in the crash, the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office is investigating what exactly transpired. We would think foul play isn’t the cause but instead this is simply the case of a team pushing the envelope and something going wrong, ending in tragedy.
For now, nobody will utter a peep about what happened, likely because they’ve been told by authorities to keep their mouth shut.
While it’s tragic Raschke died, he at least went out doing something he loves. From his Instagram account, it’s obvious he has adult children as well as young grandchildren, so they sadly lose out on having their grandpa around.
The motorsports world is in grieving as one of their own lost his life. Tragedies like this are a reminder that racing or trying to set speed records isn’t something to be trifled with, because when things go wrong, they can go really wrong and fast.
Image via chris_raschke/Instagram, Speed Demon 715/Facebook
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