From today's Volusia News Journal:
September 09, 2008
Driver critical after crash at local track
By GODWIN KELLY
Motorsports Editor
DAYTONA BEACH -- Mike Corcoran had no pulse and was not breathing when Volusia Speedway Park emergency crew members came to the race driver's aid after a horrifying accident Saturday night at the half-mile dirt oval.
"He was laying there, in the track, no helmet, blood was pooling," said an infield eyewitness, who asked not to be identified. "I was watching his feet. They never moved."
Corcoran, a weekend racer from Holly Hill, was listed in critical condition at Halifax Medical Center on Monday night.
In what veteran race fans and competitors described as the most disturbing racing accident they have ever seen, Corcoran was ejected from his Pure Stock race car after a violent blow to the undercarriage of his car from another competitor.
According to various accounts, including a Volusia County Sheriff's incident report, Corcoran's racer went sideways off of Turn 4, barrel-rolled several times and came to rest on its roof.
Another race car slammed into Corcoran's racer, standing it up sideways on the passenger side, its underside exposed broadside to oncoming traffic.
Seconds later, a second, more powerful blow from another competitor gouged the roll cage from the car while ejecting Corcoran from the cockpit.
It was a hit so brutal, it knocked the helmet off the 38-year-old driver.
Corcoran's No. 92 race car was shattered, parts strewn across the front stretch.
"It shot the roll cage, seat and driver out of the car, with the roof attached," said the infield witness, a mechanic for a visiting race team.
Emergency personnel immediately worked to revive Corcoran, who witnesses said lost blood from a gash to the head. The sheriff's report said the injured driver "did not have a pulse and was not breathing."
EVAC soon joined the fight to save Corcoran's life. He was taken by helicopter to Halifax for treatment.
"They worked on him quite a while before they got him into the chopper," said the infield witness.
The Pure Stock division is an entry-level racing class featuring older model, four-cylinder street cars modified with basic safety equipment such as a simple roll cage.
Corcoran's racer was described as a small passenger car with "unibody" construction, a vehicle designed with little steel safety railing.
The accident happened on the last lap of the last race of Saturday night's racing program before several hundred spectators and competitors.
"You see guys crash out here, their cars come apart and they walk away," said a female witness, who watched the accident unfold from the grandstands near the start-finish line. "Not this time."
A VSP spokeswoman said all cards and other well-wish items for Corcoran and his family should be sent to Halifax.
