Report Confirms Cause Of Speedway Instructor’s Death
August 31, 2015
A report has been released by the Florida Highway Patrol about their findings in the fatal April accident at the Exotic Driving Experience, an attraction that utilized the Walt Disney World Speedway. (Image for SpaceCoastDaily.com)
LAKE BUENA VISTA, FLORIDA — A report has been released by the Florida Highway Patrol about their findings in the fatal April accident at the Exotic Driving Experience, an attraction that utilized the Walt Disney World Speedway.
The report states that the track ran its course “in the opposite direction of how it was designed to be run and this led to the car being impaled by a guardrail.”
Gary Terry, 36, was working as a driving instructor in a Lamborghini driven by Tavon Watson, 24, of Kissimmee. Watson spun out in the car and crashed into a guardrail, killing Terry.
The report stated that Watson had been traveling 102 mph, he lost control and “at 88mph, the turn Watson was accelerating out of ‘would exceed the traction force of the tires on the surface.’”
Crash investigator FHP Cpl. David Rodriguez said, “If the cars were going in the proper direction, yes, this probably would not have been a fatal accident.”
The report stated: “Terry’s car would not have been exposed to the guardrail’s end had the Exotic Driving Experience run its cars counterclockwise, according to a recently released FHP investigation. Richard Petty Driving Experience ran its NASCAR automobiles counterclockwise, the direction for which the track was designed. Its affiliated Exotic Driving Experience’s cars traveled clockwise.”
Charges were not filed against Watson, but an investigation is still underway by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.