1999 Visionaire 500K summary and reactions
On lap 62 of the 1999 Visionaire 500K IRL race at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC on May 1, 1999 at 8:50 pm, Stan Wattles suffered a suspension failure which caused him to crash into the wall. John Paul Jr. made contact with the debris, causing Wattles’ right rear wheel and tire assembly to sail into the grandstands, killing three spectators in the extra sections of seating which were opened to accommodate the overflow crowd, while an additional eight people, two of who were children suffered non-fatal injuries. Scott Harrington also spun in the incident but made no contact with the other two cars and was not involved in the crash. The deaths were
- Dexter Barry Mobley, 41, of Statesville (July 11, 1957 - May 1, 1999)
- Jeffrey Patton, 32, of Hickory (December 9, 1966 - May 1, 1999)
- Randy Pyatte, 21 of Connelly Springs (October 1, 1977 - May 1, 1999)
- Friendship and Proximity: Pyatte and Patton lived near each other in the Foothills region of North Carolina. They had traveled roughly an hour from their homes to Lowe's Motor Speedway to watch the Indy Racing League (IRL) event together.
- Seating Choice: They were seated in the Turn 4 grandstands, a popular section for seeing cars transition from the high-speed turns onto the front stretch.
- Impact on the Community: The loss of the two friends simultaneously hit their small town of Connelly Springs hard. Following the tragedy, track president Humpy Wheelerand a speedway chaplain personally visited their families to offer condolences and support.
Randy Pyatte
- Attending with Family: Pyatte, a 21-year-old from Connelly Springs, North Carolina, was at the race with his parents and his young niece.
- Seating Location: He was sitting in the fourth row of the grandstands along the front stretch, a location that became tragically vulnerable when a tire and suspension debris from a crash between Stan Wattles and John Paul Jr. cleared the 15-foot safety fence.
- The Moment of Impact: Pyatte died after being struck by the flying wheel and debris on lap 61 of the event.
- Post-Event Support: Following his death, speedway president Humpy Wheeler and a track chaplain personally visited Pyatte’s family in Connelly Springs to offer support and set up a trust fund for the victims.
- Residence: Patton was a 32-year-old resident of Hickory, North Carolina.
- Seating Location: He was sitting in the grandstands near Turn 4, a section that was struck when a tire and suspension debris cleared the 15-foot catch fence following a lap 61 crash.
- Company: He was attending the event with a group of friends; at least one of his companions was among the injured spectators.
- Residence: Mobley was a 41-year-old resident of Statesville, North Carolina, though he was originally born in Cairo, Georgia.
- Seating Location: He was sitting in the Turn 4 grandstands, which was the primary area struck by debris from the lap 61 collision between Stan Wattles and John Paul Jr.
- Company: He attended the race with his wife, Laurie Helton Mobley, who survived the incident.
- Casualty Details: Mobley was one of the three spectators killed when a tire and suspension assembly cleared the 15-foot catch fence at speeds estimated near 215 mph.
Among the eight people who suffered non-fatal injuries were:
- Hailey McGee of Conover, 9, who was listed in critical condition with bruises to her brain and lungs.
- Jeremy Jones of Connelly Springs was listed in serious condition with a chest injury.
- Two adults and a child flown to University Hospital in Charlotte were listed in good condition which were:
- Wesley J. Rice, 29, of Newton had a stomach injury,
- Matthew J. Picklesimer, 26, of Claremont had head laceration
- Amanda R. Shondelmyer of Hickory, 11, had a head laceration and an injured right shoulder.
- Three of the adults who were injured were transported by ambulance to Northeast Medical Center in Concord by the names of:
- Nathaniel Blosser, 19, of Hickory was treated for a puncture wound and released,
- David Duncan, 27 of Newton was treated for a shoulder injury
- Chad, the brother of David, 22, of Conover was held overnight due to a leg injury.
- All of the hospitalized people except for Hailey McGee were released by the following evening.
After the aforementioned accident, the cars continued under caution for seventeen more laps, but 25 minutes later on lap 79, the race was red-flagged to give the medical helicopters space to land as it was realized that fans had been seriously injured. Half an hour later, track president and general manager, Humpy Wheeler got on the public address system to announce the cancellation of the race out of respect for the victims by saying "This is a deep regret. We ask for your patience in leaving the Alcoa highway patrol on the highways and we're very sorry. I hope you understand" He said in the Speedvision telecast when the cancellation of the race was announced “We've made the decision due to the fact of the terrible accident up in the 4th turn and the debris that went in the grandstand, that we'll not continue the race. The race is cancelled as of right now, and we ask everybody for their patience here in the grandstand in leaving the speedway, and we ask prayers for those that are injured. It's a terrible thing that we had to call the race, never had to do this before, but in respect to those people I think it was the thing to do...talking to the Indy Racing League people, Tony George and Leo Mehl, they felt the same way and it's just a humain thing to do." He concluded "Yeah, it was a terrible thing and just very regrettable and it's something will live with us for a long time." The investigators were working at the accident as they took measurements and roped off the area while the nearly 50,000 spectators had left the track, ninety minutes after the crash. About 200 drivers and crew members gathered in the speedway’s infield to take part in a prayer service for the victims. It was very emotional.
Since the race didn't get past the halfway point (105 laps), the race was officially listed as canceled and all stats were scratched from official record. The best thing though because of that and a similar incident in the 1998 U.S. 500 CART race which also killed three spectators is that open wheel cars have tethers attached to wheel hubs to prevent such an incident from happening again. Similarly, new catch fencing was invented, curved to prevent debris from easily sailing into the grandstands. IndyCar doesn't recognize the race in their historical archives and omitted the race in its count for the 100th race celebration in 2004. They do however, recognize records from the first two runnings of the event in 1997 & 1998.
Reactions
John Menard (owner): This is not a victory, this is a tragedy. When something like that happens, nothing else matters. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the spectators who were involved, and to their families. We must hope for better days.
Jonathan Byrd (owner): We’ve unfortunately been there before when and know how the word ‘comfort’ is. Sad it happened to a driver in the past and there really aren’t words for this but we’re really all broken-hearted over it.
A.J. Foyt (owner): I don’t really know what happened, I heard there were some fatalities. That’s about all I know but uh I think out of respect what the IRL’s trying to do to raise racing on a different level. I think respect for the families something happened to somebody I think it was a smart call.
Tony George (IRL founder): We extend our sincerest condolences to the families and friends of the deceased and injured in the tragic incident during this evening's race, Our prayers and sympathies are with them during this difficult time.
Humpy Wheeler: This is a terrible thing, as he went into the stands where the debris landed and tried to comfort some of the spectators. It's very regrettable. It's something we'll live with for a very, very long time. It’s a violent sport. it’s a sport you never know is going to happen next and you have to take the known things that have happened and quantify them when you’re doing safety things and we’ve done the best we could. We’ve never done anything like this before. But it seemed like the right thing to do in respect to those who lost their lives up there.
Leo Mehl even noted that the IRL had taken steps up to that point to reduce the speeds of its machines on banked tracks that usually hosted NASCAR where they’d mandate wing angles to do so.
Joe Tiano (spectator) of Hickory said that a tire and debris came flying into the grandstand like a rocket and then started bouncing around. He also said that everyone who were taking pictures had their camera taken away by the police.
Todd Midget (spectator): In right in turn four, one of the cars hit the wall, there was some debris that flew up to the stands, the tire made it through, and they said a rod hit somebody in the head.
Beverly Stevens (spectator) said that it was crazy for the debris to come up and into the grandstands like that.
Brandon McLain (spectator): One of the worst things I ever witnessed. Was one section over watching parts flying into the stands hitting fans. The screams echoed someone was losing life.
Joe Baker, the RPM2Night production manager, said that it was a tough night for everyone in the stands especially since they had come to see a great show which the drivers were putting up before the fatal accident. He said they were sitting about few hundred yards down from where the spectators were injured, down fairly low in the grandstand just a couple rows up from where the spectators were able to start sitting. Their focus of course was on the crash going right in front of them where the cars were hitting the wall the second time and the flames burst out where they were pretty much sitting and they were focused on the area right there. Their concern of course was with the two drivers involved because it was a pretty grinding crash. There was debris everywhere. They could feel the dust, the rubber, the heat from the flames, they could feel all of that. Once they red-flagged the race, they knew something more it happened. The spectators then started to focus on turn four, but it hit everybody about half an hour later after the red flag came out when Humpy indicated the fatalities involved. There was a considerable gasp out of the crowd. It was very quiet. There was quiet applause among the crowd, everybody showing that they knew the race had to be cancelled. Humpy then asked everybody to file out peacefully as quietly and as peacefully and organized as they could. It was the most silent 50,000 people Joe Baker had ever heard.
Scott Sharp (driver): As we were circling under the pace car, all we saw was just some cars off in the infield and didn’t even know exactly, and it wasn’t until I didn’t even know quite why they red-flagged it so I got out of the car and they started explaining. So it’s a major tragedy.
Sam Schmidt (driver): ...and I just found you know uh they didn’t really want to tell me what was going on and walking back here, I saw somebody for the press, and our prayers really go out to those families. I mean that’s um that’s you know people come here and have a good time and um that happens.
Jeff Ward (driver): We were kinda didn’t know what was going on there for a while and um you know as soon as we heard out it was my feeling I didn’t want to get back onto the race track and I’m glad they did what they did. They showed a lot of the class in the IRL that uh just to call it you know not go back out there and you know I mean we weren’t having the greatest day but you know it just doesn’t matter on the win, whoever won, it’s just not considered a race in my book.
Billy Boat (driver): At that point, the race doesn’t really matter; all what matters is those people who were injured and their families get taken care of and then we can pray for these people because it um you know, there’s going to be another race, there’s gonna be another day but you know unfortunately not for them so we just need keep them in our thoughts at this time.
Robby Unser (driver): We’re out there risking our life, we accept that, we do it, those people come here to watch us and it is really sad. Sad, I’m very happy the IRL stopped the race. I think it’s the only legitimate right thing to do for these people and it’s really sad. It affects everybody and us bad. I’m very heart.
Eddie Cheever (driver/owner): My teammates and I are just full of sorrow. Our thoughts and prayers are with the individuals and families. The decision to stop the race was the right one. We all leave Charlotte with extremely heavy hearts.
John Paul Jr. (driver): (relating to Stan Wattles) I saw the wheel. There wasn't time to swerve or turn. You're hoping it's going to roll out of the way, but it didn't. It was just there.
Stan Wattles (driver): Our hearts go out to everyone up in the stands.
Greg Ray (driver): Our hearts and prayers go out to everyone affected by this terrible tragedy. I think Humpy Wheeler and (track chairman) Bruton Smith are gentlemen in every sense of the word. They have a great love of motorsports, but they have an even greater love for family, and they did the right thing. It just shows what kind of gentlemen they truly are. I don't know what that means as far as the outcome of the race, but, frankly, I really don't care.”
Ralph Sheheen (journalist): On this night at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, there'd be no checkered flags, and there'd be no answers as to why this tragedy took place. But the one thing everybody was able to agree upon was that canceling the race was the right thing to do.
Smokey Yunick (mechanic): I don't think anybody did anything really wrong; I don't think anybody did anything really stupid. It's just that at that speed, with that kind of configuration, you don't have any idea what could happen. That could just as well been the whole car went up in the grandstand.
Darrell Waltrip (NASCAR driver): There's no height of a fence that's safe. This was my feeling even if nothing ever happened. I never understood how they could do this in the first place, as low as they are to the ground and as fragile as they are.
- In 1999, I attended this race. It was surreal and heartbreaking. When workers held up white sheets to block view of the section, we knew it had to be bad. They eventually called the race. Monday nights NFL game reminded me somewhat of this Indy race at Charlotte except we have a better outcome today, thankfully. - Gregory Cox
- I was a crew member at that race. I had family in the stands. Luckily, they were farther down the straightaway from were the debris went into the spectators. Bad night. - badgumby9544
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