Driver critical after crash at Volusia

Mike Corcoran had no pulse and was not breathing when Volusia Speedway Park in Florida emergency crew members came to the race driver's aid after a horrifying accident Saturday night at the half-mile dirt oval.

"He was laying there, in the track, no helmet, blood was pooling," said an infield eyewitness, who asked not to be identified. "I was watching his feet. They never moved."

Corcoran, a weekend racer from Holly Hill, was listed in critical condition at Halifax Medical Center on Monday night.

In what veteran race fans and competitors described as the most disturbing racing accident they have ever seen, Corcoran was ejected from his Pure Stock race car after a violent blow to the undercarriage of his car from another competitor.

According to various accounts, including a Volusia County Sheriff's incident report, Corcoran's racer went sideways off of Turn 4, barrel-rolled several times and came to rest on its roof.

Another race car slammed into Corcoran's racer, standing it up sideways on the passenger side, its underside exposed broadside to oncoming traffic.

Seconds later, a second, more powerful blow from another competitor gouged the roll cage from the car while ejecting Corcoran from the cockpit.

It was a hit so brutal, it knocked the helmet off the 38-year-old driver.

Corcoran's No. 92 race car was shattered, parts strewn across the front stretch.

"It shot the roll cage, seat and driver out of the car, with the roof attached," said the infield witness, a mechanic for a visiting race team.

Emergency personnel immediately worked to revive Corcoran, who witnesses said lost blood from a gash to the head. The sheriff's report said the injured driver "did not have a pulse and was not breathing." Daytona Beach News Journal