When racecar driver Dave Robertson suffered a massive heart attack during a June 1 oval race at Florence Speedway, track medics could do little more than pump his chest until outside help arrived.

        That's because the track did not have a defibrillator, and the ambulance providing first aid to drivers was not licensed to transport victims on city streets.

        Less than a month later, Denny Kleier died in a crash during a figure-eight race at Florence, and again, track medics had to wait for a county ambulance.

        Medical experts say it is doubtful either driver would have been saved — their injuries were too traumatic — but they say it should never have been left to chance.

        “It is inexcusable for a public racetrack to not have a defibrillator unit,” says Steve Olvey, medical director for Championship Auto Racing Teams. “I know it still happens. I think that it is an atrocity. The days of basic life support without proper equipment are over.”

        Track owner Jerry King dismisses any criticism and says he took all the precautions that could be expected.

        “They were both freak accidents,” he says. “There was nothing we could have done. It really wasn't a safety issue. Everybody wants to second-guess, but it wasn't about a lack of safety.”

        Two weeks after Mr. Kleier died — his brain stem snapping when he collided with another car — Mr. King had an emergency crew from the Walton Fire Department staffing the race. The fire department has a defibrillator and a trained staff and can transport immediately to county hospitals.

        “We can do everything but provide drugs,” Assistant Fire Chief Allen Roberts says. “We've got the Jaws of Life and a defib unit.”

        Craig Clarke, director of Track Rescue Fire Department, which provides emergency crews to racetracks in the eastern United States, says there are different safety standards at almost every small track in the nation. He says there are no uniform standards like there are at NASCAR and CART races.

        “They probably should have planned for a little more,” Mr. Clarke says.

        Short tracks such as the one at Florence don't have regular emergency programs, according to Mr. Clarke.

        “No continuity is a major problem with short tracks,” he says. “Volunteers might be there one week and not there another week. You have to have a program in effect.”

        Mr. King says he followed standards set by his insurance company. He says those are the only rules he knew to follow. But insurance experts say that, generally, those standards aren't set to ensure safety, rather they are minimum standards to qualify for coverage.

        Mr. King says the deaths have been devastating, and after Mr. Kleier's crash, he had the figure-eight track bulldozed. He now runs only oval races.

        “It has really destroyed us around here,” Mr. King says. “They were two of the nicest guys you ever met. We sat down and talked about things and thought about what we could have done (differently), but they were freak accidents.”

        Oval racer Billy Vaughn agrees.

        “We're a very tight family here,” he says. “We all took it really hard.”

        In the weeks following the accidents, the track's Internet message board was flooded with sympathy for the drivers' families and friends. But there was also a healthy dose of messages that criticized the track for not providing an ambulance with a defibrillator unit or one that could transport patients.

        Mr. King says the people posting the messages don't know what they are talking about.

        “Those people who post on the Internet might as well be home watching cartoons,” Mr. King says. “They don't have a clue what goes on.”

        Mr. Robertson did not feel well the day he died, Mr. King says. But the only way for the speedway to know whether or not Mr. Robertson should have been racing would have been to require a doctor's exam of all drivers.

        “We can't afford to require the drivers to do that,” Mr. King says. “We're just trying to pay the bills here. I'd love it if there was a way to do it, but I don't have the answer.”

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