1.
GV Drag car racing on track PAN TO Crowd
0.08

2.
GV Crowd standing up looking
0.11

3.
GV PAN Drag car racing on track and crashes
0.26

4.
LV Debris of car and officials around wreckage (2 shots)
0.27

5.
SV Officials waving crowd back (2 shots)
0.43

6.
LV Officials covering wreckage with clothes
0.53



Initials CL/1600 CL/1606


SPORT: DRAG RACING
TELERECORDING

Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved

Background: A crowd of several thousand watched in horror as a young drag racer died in the disintegrating wreckage of his machine during a meeting in Gainsvilla, florida on Sunday (16 March).

Death came within a matter of seconds. The machine broke apart as Russell Mendez was nearing the end of his quarter mile run ... he had only been on the track for 4.8 seconds.

The car was travelling at more than 260 miles an hour (416 kph). Mendez was dead when rescuers reached him.

An investigation into the cause of the crash has been started. Despite the speeds reached by the rocket powered cars, the fatality rate in drag racing is very small.