This morning's Touring 1 race at the SCCA National Championship Runoffs was marred by a massive wreck at the starting flag. As the field came up to the green flag, outside front row qualifier John Heinricy got a slow start in his Corvette Grand Sport. Behind him, Dodge Viper pilot Jim Lynch went right to go around Heinricy, and crashed into the #99 Corvette of Tom Sloe. Then the crash cascaded into the cars farther down the pack. Ultimately 3-4 Corvettes and Lynch's Viper were wrecked. Because the starting speeds of these cars approach 100 MPH and every driver had the gas pedal to the floor, there was no opportunity to avoid the chaos.
The driver of Corvette #21 (pictured), Aaron Quine, was transported to the race medical center, but was conscious and exited the car on his own before workers arrived. At this time, the race is about to undergo a restart for a 15 minute sprint race to decide the championship. Heinricy was not among those going back out to race, and may have chosen to retire from the event.
UPDATE: Heinricy suffered a transmission failure at the start of the race, and did not return for the restart. Aaron Quine and the other drivers involved in the crash were treated by race medical and released.
This race can be viewed online at SpeedCastTV.