A 62-year-old driver was killed Saturday night while competing in a sanctioned school bus race at Citrus County Speedway, the Citrus County Sheriff's Office confirmed Sunday.
Charles "Chick" Whitehead of Ocala died in the special "figure 8" race after his green bus overturned, landed on its roof and was struck by a black bus. No other injuries were reported.
Citrus County Fire Rescue personnel attended to Whitehead and found him in his racing seat, restrained by his racing safety harness. He died at the scene, the sheriff's office said.
"There are no words to describe it," said Gary Swing, a friend of Whitehead. "It was just a horrendous accident."
Track announcer Tony Modica said two buses collided and the green one flipped in the 10 p.m. crash.
A witness posting on Facebook said the green bus was approaching the "x" on the figure 8 course when that bus and another became hooked together, sending the green bus on its roof. The front of the green bus collapsed.
"The other bus just kind of pulled on top of it at the same time," Swing said. "(It was) too much weight."
School bus figure 8 racing is run as special event at many short tracks around the country and is popular with fans. The racing is potentially dangerous because vehicles cross at an unregulated intersection in the middle of the course.
Swing said Whitehead was a "great guy" and a "big supporter of school bus racing. ... It was something he really enjoyed doing."
Citrus County Speedway, a three-eighths-mile paved oval, is located two miles south of Inverness at the Citrus County Fairgrounds.
This is the second deadly accident at a racetrack in west central Florida. Recently, 12-year-old Tyler Morr of Arcadia suffered fatal injuries in a Kids Club race at Auburndale Speedway in Polk County.