The weekly races at a racetrack near Ogilvie, Minn., ended with a close call for a man who's expected to survive after getting hit by a racing school bus.
Man survives after being hit by racing school bus
He was struck during weekly races Saturday at a Kanabec County short track.
July 24, 2023 at 12:26AM
On Saturday night, school buses whipped around the Ogilvie Raceway in Kanabec County as people whooped from the stands. Bus races are part of the weekly program at the raceway.
Video of the race shows one bus losing control and skidding through the middle of the oval. As it careened into the grass, the bus hit a man on a four-wheeler.
Keisha Lucking of Mora, Minn., saw the bus strike the man head-on and said she watched him go "flying."
"He didn't move afterwards, and he flew quite a ways," Lucking said.
Firefighters posted at the race rushed over, she said, but there was no ambulance on scene.
In a statement, Ogilvie Raceway said the man was airlifted to a hospital, where his condition was listed as fair and stable.
A statement posted on the track's Facebook page Sunday said the man was expected to leave the hospital soon.
"He is recovering and should be going home soon," the post read, conveying a message from the man's family: "They appreciate everyone's thoughts and prayers."
Lucking said the crash made her think a little more about the safety of attending races.
"You don't know if those railings are going to hold up," she said, wondering what would happen if a school bus careened toward the stands.
"That's the chance you take when you go to events like that," she said. "Accidents happen on the road and off."
The governor’s wife, Gwen Walz, is also a former teacher and has been an advocate for criminal justice, education and gun control during Walz’s time at the Capitol. They have two kids, Hope and Gus.
