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Only 12 of 41 Starters Running At End of Crash-Filled Race
by Jeremy Troiano & Matthew Dillner, Speed51.com
13 February 2005
[Excerpt]
[Todd] Kluever, who was making his ARCA debut with Roush Racing, was one of the 15 cars that were involved on the accident on lap 63 on the backstretch. Kluever’s car got upside down after being hit by another car and slid on its roof before being hit by Larry Foyt’s car while sliding upside down. Kluever’s car then got into the grass and did a series of barrel rolls before landing on its wheels.
Behind and in front of Kluever, cars began wrecking everywhere. Some of those included in the accident included Billy Venturini, Dan Shaver, AJ Henriksen, Foyt, Joey Miller, Christi Passmore, Todd Bowsher, Kyle Krisiloff, Ken Weaver, GR Smith, Doug Reid, Mario Gosselin, Chad McCumbee and Joe Cooksey.
Todd Kluever's car was destroyed after an end-over-end flip at the end of the race. (51 Photo)
Shaver’s car also got upside down in the accident and was on fire for a brief period of time.
Both Shaver and Venturini were transported to Halifax Medical Center in Daytona for further evaluation. Shaver was eventually released, but Venturini was held over night for further evaluation. On Sunday, Venturini was scheduled to have surgery to help fix a broken vertebra and torn ligaments in his neck. All of the other drivers, including Kluever, were treated and released from the infield care center.
“There at the end, the 9 (Joey Miller) finally lost it,” said Larry Foyt. “You knew it was going to happen one way or another. I went up high and just stayed in the gas. I guess he got into the 60 (Kluever) because all I saw was the bottom of the 60 and I hit him pretty hard. It is a bummer because we had a good car.”
“Someone got into the back of me a little bit coming out of the corner there,” said Miller, who was the first to spin in the accident. “You just can’t get into someone in the corners here. You are going to get them messed up. I spun it down toward the infield and around. Luckily, I kept it out of the wall and we were able to drive back by all those other guys.”
http://www.speed51.com/2005stories/arca/arca_daytona_race_story.html
Photo from Speed51.com
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