A race car that flew over a guardrail, through a safety fence and into a crowd of spectators at the Missouri State Fair in Sedalia left five people injured, two of them seriously.

Missouri Highway Patrol authorities said the wreck happened around 9 p.m. Sunday during the Battle of the Badges charity race at the Pepsi Grandstand.

The driver, an off-duty police officer identified as 25-year-old Tyson Russell of Crocker, Mo., reportedly lost control of his car and sent it flying into the infield of the track where spectators were watching.

The car struck five spectators, three men and two women, all from Missouri and ranging in age from 27 to 67, according to local ABC affiliate KMIZ. Highway Patrol officials told the station that the two women, ages 27 and 34, would be released from the hospital today.

Two men remain in serious but stable condition at a nearby hospital. One of them men suffered a broken leg that may require amputation, a Highway Patrol spokesperson told ABCNews.com today. Another man had only minor injuries.

The charity race involves old police cars. The officers, Russell included, were driving non-patrol cars for the event, which raises funds for the Special Olympics. Russell was not injured in the accident.

Earlier in the evening a 15-year-old race car driver from Carrolton, Mo., was involved in a separate crash in which he also lost control of his vehicle while going around a curve, causing it to overturn several times. The crash occurred at 8:15 p.m., and the driver was flown to the hospital by helicopter. There is no word on the extent of his injuries.

The Missouri Highway Patrol did not open an investigation into the crashes because both occurred during a private function, the patrol spokesman said.