No one hurt as power line falls in I-55 pits
PEVELY, Mo. — A scary moment Saturday afternoon at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 caused a track power outage that delayed the start of the DIRTcar Summer Nationals program by one hour. | Complete Summer Nationals coverage
The outage was caused when wind blew a power line in the pit area into one of the lift gate uprights of Brandon Sheppard’s trailer, causing the wire to split with one side of the live wire dropping on Sheppard’s trailer and the other dropping across Tanner English’s car on the other side of the pit area. No one was struck by the wire and crews from a local power company were called in to repair the wire and restore power to the track. No injuries were reported.
The main extent of the damage appeared to be multiple holes in the left-front fender of English’s car where the downed wire had burned through the sheet metal. It was by mere chance, English said, that none of his crew members were in the way of the wire when it fell.
“We talked about changing those plug wires today, but decided to run them another night,” English said. “If we’d decided to change them I think one of us would’ve been standing right there were it fell.”
Sheppard said he was aware of the power line when he parked his truck and thought he had left enough room to keep the wire from hitting his truck.
“I’ve parked here like 100 times, you know. It’s my spot when I come here. I left multiple feet like I always do,” Sheppard said, gesturing a wide gap with his hands. “We were parked here all day and nothing happened. I guess the wind caught it just right.”
