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(WKBN) - A tragic accident this weekend that killed a driver at Quaker City Motorsports Park in Salem has shaken the local racing community.
On Monday, flags were at half-staff at Quaker City Motorsports Park in honor of veteran jet car racer Al Zukauskas.
According to Goshen Police Chief John Calko, Zukauskas' race car lost control, struck the side barrier wall at over 250 miles per hour and caught fire.
Bert Dawson raced for the first time at Quaker City in 1957. He said the race track has a lot of rules and regulations set up to prevent accidents like this, but when you're going that fast and something goes wrong, it's normally tragic.
"Sixty miles an hour is 88 feet per second. So, when you are going 200-something, you're going over 300 feed in one second," Dawson said.
The camaraderie in racing is truly one of a kind, which is why Zukauskas' tragic death is being felt by some many people, locally. David Gamble is one of them and a racer.
"It's people that you can trust, that you can truly rely on, and you can be racing against somebody and your car breaks, they're going to come over and help you get it fixed so you can race," Gamble said.
Gamble was at the track when the crash happened. He said Zukauskas died doing what he was passionate about.
"Al definitely passed by doing what he loved to do, and that was racing jet engines," Gamble said.
Sara Martino's husband and young sons also witnessed the crash. She was on her way to the race track when she saw the plume of smoke.
"It's also a harsh reality of the world that things happen all the time. You never know in the blink of an eye, you could be gone. That's why I wanted to really explain to them to enjoy every moment we have together because it could be gone just like that,' Martino said.