Posted: November 18 2003 at 6:41pm | IP Logged

Yes, there was someone killed there.

The buttonhook is shown as the "Off Ramp" on the Buttonwillow track maps.

Posted: November 19 2003 at 10:31am | IP Logged

The story as I heard it was that he went frontal into a dirt berm, which didn't make any sense, as there was never a  noticeable berm there...but, when we were there 2 weeks ago, things had changed. They'd paved an "alternative buttonhook" is my guess, and in doing so, made this huge berm on the outside of the turn. It's the kind of thing you don't want to see if you lose your brakes going into the turn. I don't know what the hell they were thinking, but they need to make some changes, which I imagine they realize now.

My understanding of it is the throttle stuck on the car. I Didn't know the driver, but of course we were all sad to hear about it. He was driving a stock car for the Real Ride team, who are a great group of guys.