Blog: Dirt-Track Racer Ryan Bard Dies In A Fatal Crash At The Abilene Speedway
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Oct 25, 2007
Dirt-track racer Ryan Bard, 23, of Farmington, N.M., died at a hospital in Dallas, a day after a crash during qualifying Sunday at Abilene Speedway in Texas. Bard’s car rolled over and caught on fire. NWSource.com
Ryan Bard’s death was the first fatal crash at the Speedway that the track’s owner and another driving enthusiast could recall. And while the death has race fans wondering what more could have been done to save Ryan, Terry Bard said he was pleased with the race track’s efforts to help.
“Ryan died doing what he loved,” he said. “That’s a class act out there (at the Abilene Speedway). Whenever something like that happens, there’s a lot of finger pointing. I don’t want any finger pointing. They did everything they could. It shouldn’t even be an issue. The people who are finger pointing are the people who weren’t there.
“I was down in the middle of it,” he said. “I know what was going on.”
Ryan Bard, of Farmington, N.M., was participating in the Southern Challenge, the final weekend of racing in 2007 at the Abilene Speedway on the city’s west side. A 2001 high school graduate and baseball pitcher in Aztec, N.M., Ryan had been extremely successful in racing over the past two years, winning four main events in four states in less than a year. He also planned to marry Caley Lapaire, 20, in May. Doug Myers, ReporterNews.com
Whatever happened, Bard’s car flipped at least one and one-half times. The flip was no more severe than those race fans see with some frequency.
Wrecks are a part of the sport, but the sudden fire is to blame for this disaster.
Bard, who raced in the Southern SportsMod category sanctioned by the International Motor Contest Association, could hardly have enough time to register what was going on, because in seconds the whole car was immersed in flame.
Bard’s father, Terry Bard, rushed to his son’s aid and attempted to pull him from the car, but the flames were too intense to get his son out.
“His dad was actually down there before firefighters. It blew up once, and then again. (His father) tried to reach in there and grab him but he kept getting knocked back,” Boettler said.
Other drivers who knew Bard said the young driver had “the best of everything,” referring to the safety afforded by his fire suit, his helmet and his car.
