2012 ClarTech Darlington Dash

The 2012 ClarTech Darlington Dash, the sixth of 14 rounds in the 2012 Formula Overdrive season, was held at the Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. The race was called after a massive crash 8 laps into the race, which saw Meghan Gallagher and Tanya Carter seriously injured, with considerable damage caused to the racing surface and catch fence. According to official Hanmore Formula Overdrive rules, if the race is called, scoring is reverted back to the last completed lap, and the results will be considered official. As a result, Hamilton Porteau was declared the winner, and despite being involved in the Lap 8 accident, Gallagher and Carter were scored as finishing 6th and 8th, respectively.

The Race
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2012 Hanmore Formula Overdrive Drivers Points Standings
Kenny Morales extends his championship lead to 13 points, the largest lead anyone has enjoyed this season.

Tanya Carter In Serious But Stable Condition After Crash
Tanya Carter, the young Irish driver, was taken to hospital for what was expected to be "life-threatening injuries", however, Tanya Carter's condition started getting better as the day went on, and at around 5:30pm EST, Tanya came around and was conscious and responding in short sentences to visitors and doctors.

Tanya's car was struck by Meghan Gallagher's when Gallagher was sent airborne into the catch fence. The right rear tire struck Tanya's cockpit, and hit Tanya herself, causing Tanya to have a severe concussion, a broken right arm, and several broken ribs, and will see her out of the car for the foreseeable future.

Tanya's replacement will be father Garry, who had this to say on the matter. "I'm glad that wasn't any worse for Tanya, but I'm really upset that this has happened to her. She was having a fantastic season, with a win to her name. It's a real shame."

Ross Carter also said something on the matter, saying he hopes that Tanya "pulls through" on Twitter. Ross Carter said also to the press that Tanya wanted to pursue a career in stock car racing, so this may be more of an incentive for Tanya to make the transition, if she recovers in time.

Meghan Gallagher In Serious Condition After Violent Crash
Fear filled the historic Darlington Speedway after eight laps of racing today. Many people who are against pack type racing on ovals with open wheel cars saw what they knew would inevitably happen. While the accident began innocently enough with a car brushing the wall, everything stacked up from there. In the mess both Tanya Carter and Meghan Gallagher went airborne and landed hard back on the track. Many drivers used more avoidance maneuvers while avoiding the wreck which caused it to be substantially worse than what it could have been. After the wreck, Gallagher was unconscious in the race car. Officials worked as quickly as they could to rush the unconscious Gallagher to the ambulance. Still unconscious, she was airlifted to the hospital.

Later on, she became awake and alert, but in serious pain. The extent of her injuries had not been revealed, but according to Big Mac Racing owner, Thomas Mac, things are not all great. Mac old us, "When the car hit the ground, Meghan's feet were lodged in part of the car... and were partially crushed under the blow of the impact. Along with that she has re-broken her leg that she broke two years ago at the wreck at Dwyer in the Hawk Slider incident and her left arm. She's been through so much these last two years... I just can't believe this happened. Something needs to be done to improve the safety of these cars. These cars need to stay on the ground. If that means slowing them down or breaking up the pack racing, so be it. We could've been less fortunate. I haven't heard much about Tanya (Carter), but I wish her a speedy recovery as well. It will be a long road to recovery, but I'll be there the whole way through.

When asked about a replacement driver, Thomas Mac told us, "I haven't even had much time to think about that with all the activity that has happened today. Sara (Meghan's older sister) is on her way to us right now from Daytona where the RROL's funding is unclear. If she has the right mindset I may ask her, but I have plenty of drivers I could ask to put in the car in our program. Meghan wants us to continue our season. Her and the team were doing such a good job, picking up the team's first gross victory ever first race this year. I just pray for a speedy recovery for Meghan and Tanya and nothing like this happens to all of us again."

Hanmore Officials React To Devastating Crash, New Aero Package To Be Run at Atlanta and Las Vegas
Hanmore officials announced that the new aero package that will be run at Texas for the 2012 Hanmore World Championships will also be run at the Atlanta Motor Speedway and the Las Vegas Autoring. This comes as a reaction to the Darlington race, which several drivers were injured in a massive accident resulting from pack racing.

"Pack racing will be heavily reduced," said Hanmore CEO Frank Dolan. "We want to give these drivers a chance to have some breathing room on the high banked ovals."

Tests for this new package are scheduled for after the Mosport race at Atlanta in a week's time.