Tragedy found the NASCAR world Sunday, as hours after the conclusion of the rain-shortened Pennsylvania 400 at Pocono Raceway, President Brandon Igdalsky announced one fan is dead, another is in critical condition while eight others were injuried after lighting struck down in one of the track's parking lots.
According to reports, the fan was dead on arrival at Pocono Medical Center, while the one who's in critical condition is at the Lehigh Valley Medical Center.
The news came a few hours after SB Nation's motorsports writer Jeff Gluck, reported the lightning strike and rumors of fans being injured. According to Gluck, the official Pocono Raceway twitter account alerted fans at 4:21 p.m. of a storm with "severe lighting", however, cars were still on the 2.5-mile trioval.
This is a tragic and very avoidable incident. We all knew for hours a huge storm was coming. I'm so sad about this.
— Jeff Gluck (@jeff_gluck) August 5, 2012
The sad news comes on the same day news broke about the death of Garrett Reid, who's the eldest son of Philadelphia Eagles head coach. Needless to say, this is one of the most tragic days in Pennsylvania sports history.
For more on the race at Pocono, check back to this SBN Philly StoryStream. Meanwhile, for everything NASCAR check out Jeff Gluck's twitter feed and this SB Nation NASCAR StoryStream.