Sad News – Campers Die UPDATE: After receiving a call from a woman Sunday who said her husband had not returned home from a campground at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, more than a dozen Concord police officers started a search. They discovered two men dead inside a tent around 2:00am/et at a campground outside Lowe’s Motor Speedway in a lot where hundreds of fans of The Winston have parked their campers for race activities. Officers found a small charcoal grill burned out inside the tent near the victim’s bodies. It was likely being used as some type of heat source when temperatures began to dip Saturday night, investigators say. Investigators say the death of the two men is accidental. The victims are from North Carolina and nearby campers say they believe they are from the Marion area. The camper and truck were towed from scene Monday morning and taken to the Concord Police Station as evidence. Investigators say they are contacting family at this hour. They plan to release more details later this afternoon.(NBC6.com) and an update on the story posted a little while ago at NBC6.com: Bodies found at Lowe’s Motor Speedway campground.(5-20-2002) UPDATE: Early Monday morning, security officers found the bodies of two N.C. men in their tent at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, apparently victims of carbon monoxide poisoning from a charcoal grill they were using to stay warm. The cause of death has not been officially determined for Todd Stewart Loftis, 37, of Marion and Joseph Dylan Rumfelt, 24, of Old Fort. But police say the brothers-in-law probably died from inhaling carbon monoxide from the grill as the temperature dropped into the 40s. It’s not the first time the deadly gas has killed camping race fans. In campgrounds at speedways across the country, thousands of racing fans pitch tents and park recreational vehicles, enjoying cheap lodging and campground camaraderie. But in the past eight years, the combination of burning fuel and small, enclosed sleeping spaces has killed at least 10 campers in at least six incidents at major speedways. “It just tore me to pieces,” said Shane Burton of Kings Mountain, who had set up camp a few rows away in the Peninsula campground on speedway property. “The way people are in the campgrounds, if they would have just said they were cold, (somebody) would have brought them in.” Speedway officials estimated that between 10,000 and 15,000 people camped on their property for The Winston — equal to about one-fourth Concord’s population. But something tragic happened just two weeks ago, when, after the NASCAR Pontiac 400 at Richmond International Speedway in Virginia, a 20-year-old woman died from inhaling exhaust that leaked into her camper from its gas-powered generator. Carbon monoxide — a colorless, odorless gas produced by burning fuel — replaces the body’s oxygen when inhaled, slowly suffocating the victim. Lowe’s Motor Speedway officials said that until now, nobody had died there from carbon monoxide poisoning. But they do get several rescue calls each year from people experiencing symptoms of it: dizziness, fatigue, headache, nausea and irregular breathing. The Concord Fire Department began Monday posting fliers warning campers how to prevent carbon monoxide inhalation.(more at ThatsRacin.com)(5-21-2002)
