The Disaster that Almost Was

ESPLAR History Files Series 1 - Story 2: The Disaster that Almost Was

In the entire history of the Evanshire Super Pro League of Auto Racing, not a single fatality has occurred in the sport. This is in stark contrast to other racing series which tragically lost drivers during a racing event. Many fans across the world would attribute this as pure luck, but unlike what the history books say, ESPLAR has been improving driver and team safety ever since the first season of the Elite Series in 1973.

ESPLAR fans today would note the drivers whose careers were disrupted because of an injury sustained in a racing event. Team Maxima's Matthew Chapman who won the 1996 and 1999 EES title suffered a devastating injury in 2000 which virtually ended not just his title defense, but effectively his career in ESPLAR as well. Yoshihiro Ishikawa suffered a leg injury after being hit at high speeds during practice at Texas World in 2018. The list goes on with the injured drivers, but none came close to the one which almost became ESPLAR's first fatality in the sport, which came under unfortunate circumstances in 1975.

Zack Curmon, a native of Estlenhar, is in his 2nd season with the small Murgrennon Enterprises Team which would eventually become a big force in the late 70s and early 80s. This was the season where Mylo Racing's Lucian Eschen was in his rookie season and Ben Kerrivan who was in a temporary partnership with George Mylo but was struggling in Chevrolet equipment whereas Ben Kerrivan was used to Pontiac. This was also the season where Hennivan Racing had fallen into the midfield after Edward Morson's championship in the inaugural season of ESPLAR, and Team Maxima and Team Nitra were competing with insurgent teams to win the title, Murgrennon among them. The ESPLAR calendar at the time was 18 races, with the series having races at the west coast of the United States.

The first race of the 1975 season was quiet for Murgrennon with Zack Curmon starting 8th at Etowald Raceway in Preveza, Auroia-Sylvania, with his teammate Marty Schoenberg starting 24th. Curmon rode in for a 7th while Schoenberg finished further back in 15th, though both drivers made up positions from the start. Meanwhile Team Nitra's Kenny Roeren won the race.

The next 3 races, at Amsalenor in Tyleiden, Bardney in Leiko-Ulist, and Sognnes in Laronia, ended well for Curmon with him finishing in the top 10 although Schoenberg didn't fare as well as Zack did. In fact, after the next race at Lavaur in Altruras Island Curmon was well within the top 10 of the championship table while Marty was struggling to stay in the top 20.

Race 6 and tides began to turn against Murgrennon. Curmon suffered an agonizing DNF at Estlenhar thanks to the "Big One". Afterwards Zack came down with a fever which decreased his performance at Arcadia Raceway; he only barely stayed in the top 10. Zack's fever only got worse as race weekend at Altruras' Morban Raceway drew closer.

Zack decided to visit a doctor in his hometown of Colvin prior to flying to Altruras. Since medical technology isn't as advanced as the present day, his doctor initially did not know what Zack might be diagnosed with. Eventually Zack found out he was diagnosed with Adenovirus, a common illness which affected the upper respiratory tract. The doctor called his team and recommended him sit out the race. The Murgrennon team manager noted it, but when Zack returned to the team, the team manager gave Zack the choice of either racing or sitting out. Zack chose to race since he wanted to keep up with the rest of the championship contenders.

When Altruras began, it did so as a normal race.

But then, it happened. The Big One on lap 22.

Out of the 42 cars that started, only 4 remained at the end. All because of an accident that nearly turned into a league-wide regional disaster.

Zack Curmon had been running in the top 10 hoping to use the pack racing in order to lessen the pressure on him. However, this landed him right in the middle of ESPLAR's biggest crash in history, even today.

It began as a aggressive move for the lead gone wrong, and soon the entire track was blocked. Zack did his best to avoid the crash, only to get hit from behind. And at 370 kph, Zack was soon on his roof and and rolling many times.

When the dust settled, everyone was trying to get him out of the car. Fortunately, he was able to however he had trouble walking and was not able to communicate properly with the medical team.

Zack had suffered very serious injuries, the extent of which would never be fully revealed as the documents regarding his medical condition were lost.

We do know, however, based on the best available data from both former Murgrennon team staff, that Zack was never able to race again. That, coupled with his adenovirus illness that made his condition worse, prevented him from racing the rest of the 1975 season. After the season ended Zack decided to call it quits and ended his ESPLAR career before it could really take off.

Following Zack's accident ESPLAR implemented its most serious safety upgrades up to this point. This largely prevented more serious injuries like in Zack's unfortunate case, and ESPLAR for more than 2 decades did not have a high-profile injury that ended a racer's career.