Retired NASCAR Cup Series driver Kasey Kahne was among those who helped assist first responders to a head-on traffic accident that killed two people in Port Royal, Pa. on Saturday night. According to a report by Penn Live, the accident involved a camper that had been heading home from Port Royal Speedway, where Kahne had been competing in a World of Outlaws race.
The accident reportedly occurred on Route 322, when a wrong-way driver hit a pickup truck and camper head-on. Kahne, who was leaving the track after finishing 20th in the feature, was among the first people to stop at the accident site. As a bystander shouted that one of the pickup trucks was on fire with the driver unconscious inside, Kahne grabbed a fire extinguisher from his tour bus and used it on the growing fire while others worked to rescue the occupants from the vehicles.
In addition to Kahne, several others stopped to assist the occupants of the vehicles, including a deliver truck driver and former volunteer firefighter, an assistant fire chief returning from an evening out, an off-duty NYPD officer and a fourth-year medical student.
The wrong-way driver, 64-year old Michael Hoy of Daytona Beach, Fla., and 65-year old Randy L. Deibelbi of Pennsylvania both died of their injuries. The passenger in Deibelbi's vehicle remains hospitalized with life-threatening injuries.
"There was a tragic car accident on our way home from the races Saturday night," wrote Kahne in a Twitter post on Wednesday. "I just wanted to recognize all of the people who jumped in to help as quick as they possibly could until first responders arrived. My thoughts and prayers are with the families involved."
"If no one had stopped and pulled them out," said Shane Swenson, Dauphin-Middle Paxton Fire Company Assistant Chief, "they would have been burned. The fire was everywhere. That's no doubt. There was no way they were getting out of the vehicles but luckily, the Good Samaritans pulled them out."
Kahne, who raced in the Cup Series full-time from 2004 to 2018 with 18 career victories, recently returned to full-time racing when he was tabbed to run the remainder of the World of Outlaws season for Roth Motorsports. Since health issues forced his retirement from NASCAR, Kahne has focused on sprint car racing as both a team owner and part-time driver.
