1 dead, 5 hurt in spectator crash near Speed Week

Police say one man is dead and five people are hurt after two cars of Speed Week spectators crashed on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Tooele County Sheriff’s Lt. Ron Johnson says the 65-year-old was riding in a pickup truck that veered into the path of a minivan in the unpaved landscape on Wednesday morning. He was one of four people in the truck. Two people were in the minivan.

Johnson says crashes sometimes happen during the races that can top 400 mph, but this was the first spectator crash he’s aware of in two decades.

Three people were flown to hospitals and two were taken by ambulance.

Racers from all over the world gather at the stark landscape about 100 miles west of Salt Lake City for the auto racing event that began Monday.