Tragedy struck at a Northern California race track on Saturday, as drive Chase Johnson crashed off the track into pit row, killing two people, a race car owner and the driver's own cousin.
According to ABCNews.com and the Associated Press, Johnson, who has won multiple races in his career, was in an event at Marysville Raceway Park when his car went off the track and into the pit, killing his14-year-old cousin Marcus Johnson and 68-year-old race car owner Dale Wondergem, authorities said.
There were no other injuries in the crash and the report said that no one else was in jeopardy of being injured, according to the police. The cousin was not an official member of the crew and Undersheriff Jerry Read said investigators are looking into why he was in the pit area.
The track was holding the California Sprint Car Civil War Series and the crash happened after a number of cars were doing warm-up laps before the race.
Marcus Johnson's father, Rob Johnson, told KPIX-TV his son was in the pit helping out when "something strange happened and the steering wheel came off ... this car flew probably 100 to 150 feet and hit him."
"Everybody's hurting. There's nothing we can do. This is terrible," the father tearfully said. He said his son and cousin were like best friends. "He had so much to look forward to," the father said.
Chase Johnson is a senior at Petaluma High School north of San Francisco, according to his website.
"They're the first family of the Petaluma Speedway," Lingron said. "There's not a better kid you're going to find in the racing community than Chase Johnson. To have something like this put around his neck is a tragedy."
