
Tailgating is usually the highlight of any sporting event, if you don’t get struck by lightning.
When it comes to lightning storms, you really do not want to mess around. Lightning is very fast and difficult to predict, so when lightning storms come, massive professional sports events, such as the annual NASCAR race in Long Pond, Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway are quick to take cover and to usher the fans into safety. Unfortunately, they generally do not extend their control to after the events. A NASCAR fan was killed and nine more were injured after a lightning strike at Pocono Raceway. This occurred in the parking lot after a rain-shortened race won by Jeff Gordon.
“The visibility was very poor and all of a sudden [I] saw a bolt of lightning right in front of our windshield,” said eye witness Kyle Manger to the Sporting News. “When it became a little more visible, we saw two bodies next to a destroyed tent with people scrambling. They were just running trying to get to their car. One’s fate isn’t looking good.”
Indeed, one of those two fans was killed; the other fan is in critical condition at LeHigh Valley Medical Center. This just has not been a good year for Pocono, between on-track problems and off-track accidents.
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