Six Killed While Watching Drag Race

June 18, 2007 — -- Six spectators were killed Sunday when a drag racing car at a charity event in Tennessee lost control and careened into a crowd of people.

Hundreds of spectators attending an event to raise money for disabled children were lined up along a stretch of road that had no guard rails in Selmer, Tenn., when a driver lost control of his vehicle.

In addition to the six people killed, 18 more were injured, many of them children.

A home video capturing the incident showed the car slamming into the crowd in the middle of a wheel-spinning trick.

"He was just throwing people up like a deck of cards," one eyewitness said. "I mean it all happened so fast."

Another eyewitness hinted the situation may have been preventable.

"I'm just upset that this whole situation happened because there's no guard rails and you're two feet from the road," the witness said.

Events like car shows and stunt shows draw large audiences, and the Tennessee tragedy raises questions about how safe it is to stand in the crowds.

"It did careen into the fans, which was extremely unfortunate," said Robin Ammon, author of "Sport Facility Management" and an expert in crowd management.

Ammon said these types of accidents happen all too often.

"A lot of times it takes something along the lines of this kind of an incident before they really do something about it," Ammon said.

Earlier this month, another crash at a drag racing event in Ohio, which also was captured on video, injured seven people, including an 11-year-old boy.

There have also been a series of accidents at air shows and professional sporting events. In 2002, young Nicole Cecil died after being hit in the head with a puck at an NHL hockey game in Columbus, Ohio.

"I honestly believe it was her time to go," said Cecil's mother Jody Sergent in a 2002 interview with "Good Morning America's" Diane Sawyer. "She's our angel now."