Serious injury at Atlanta Downhill Challenge soapbox derby

Two people telephoned me within the past hour to report that a racer in today’s Atlanta Downhill Challenge soapbox derby suffered a life-threatening injury. Additionally, blogger Tessa Horehled from Drive A Faster Car is working at the event and reports on her Twitter page that his un-helmeted hit the pavement quite hard.

I can’t follow up as I’m tied up for the next few hours, but if anyone has any details about what happened, please post them in the comments section of this post.

UPDATE: Atlanta Downhill Challenge organizer Rebekha Jennings says this morning that she has been in touch with the injured man. She reports he is stable and expects to be released from the hospital tomorrow. Per the injured man’s request, however, she’s not able to reveal any other details.

Medical technicians from Central EMS were on-site at the time of the accident and responded immediately, she says. Additionally, she says an ambulance arrived in “five-to-ten minutes,” not 20-to-30 minutes as some commenters to this post have stated.

UPDATE 2: Video of the crash has been posted on YouTube. You can clearly see the driver’s helmet coming off as his car flips.

UPDATE 3: The video of the crash on YouTube is no longer viewable.