Help support Aussie Troy Critchley

[lillgreen]

After seeing Troy's story on 60 minutes sunday night i felt as a fellow countryman, i couldnt sit idle and let this happen to this poor guy.


A group of Australian drag racers led by Troy’s former team principal, Victor Bray wish to hand a petition to the Australian Prime minister, Mr. Kevin Rudd which will contain signatures and names of racers, track officials, management and fans that are concerned for the future of Troy Critchley and would like to see the Australian government give whatever support available to ensure Troy has every opportunity during this testing time while he is in the hands of the American legal system. Troy currently is facing numerous very serious charges under Tennessee law.

By taking this action we as Troy's extended racing family don't want to belittle the tragedy that occurred in Selmer and we as a group along with Troy wish to extend our deepest sympathies to those who lost loved ones, the injured, their families and anyone adversely affected by the tragedy. We just want to ensure Troy has access to the best help and advice to assist him though these very difficult times.

Over the years the Australian government has supported publicly Australian citizens when facing the legal system of foreign countries. Mostly this has occurred when illegal activity has taken place. Troy Critchley has not attempted any illegal activity nor intentionally broken any laws. He is simply a decent Aussie bloke caught up in an extremely bad situation. Troy has been commended by many observers throughout his ordeal for his cooperation with authorities and for making himself available on request to assist in the investigation.


By signing the petition you are simply showing support for Troy. We understand that while in the hands of the American legal system in Tennessee that the Australian government may have little or no prospects to aid Troy in his defense however all we are asking is that the appropriate government officials keep themselves abreast of the situation and give advice and help when warranted.

If you wish to assist in our endevours to ensure the Australian government give whatever support possible to Troy please sign the petition at http://www.teambrayracing.com

[blackjet]

Hello,
I saw the story as well. there's no way that it was his fault totally. It was absolutely the fault of the organisers as well. Their is no way that Burn out demo would be allowed to be held in Australia, with people lining both sides of the road.

I have signed the pertition.

Regards Blackjet

[Circuit]

I saw the story as well and its an extremely sad situation.

Obviously its not all his fault and the whole idea of burnouts in a public street lined with people is way stupid.
He must accept a lot of the blame though, these machines are prone to going out of control and surely the consequences of that should have crossed his mind.

From the tone of the story though it looks like no one else is being held up to blame and obviously he's being hung out to dry.
So I have signed the petition too.

[audiophile]

seriously why would parents let their kids watch such a high powered car without being behind any sort of protective barrier, even then they are stupid themselves not to.

As usual the parents are looking for a scape goat, because they themselves were not responsible enough to do the right thing, along with event organizers.

What really tops it off, he was doing it for charity work. My signature is on there

[ExtremePC]

Lack of barriers
Small children in the crowd
Crowd too close

Arn't they all reasons enough for Troy to have refused to do the stunts in the first place? When it comes down to it just like we are able to observe all the things wrong with the set up wasn't it also Troy's choice to perform the stunts even though just like us he could see all the present dangers?

Yes, the organisers certainly didn't employ what would have been considered minumum safety precautions, BUT that in no way absolves Troy from any part of the responsibility and or reprocussions of his actions, it was still his choice to perform the stunts that resulted in the unintentional deaths of several spectators despite being able to see the danger he was putting them in and the lack of safety precautions.

[Circuit]

I agree with you Extreme as a professional racer he has to take responsibility and should not have done it.
But he definitely is not the only one responsible, the same thing would apply at a racetrack.
There are other people such as organizers and parents who are also to blame for this tragic event and they have to take some of the responsibility too.

Of course 60 Minutes may not have presented the whole story of whats going on either.

[WarpSpider]

When will people learn that car = high powered weapon. The driver is at much at fault as the organiser, it comes down to operating the vehicle in an unsafe manner. That there were spectators makes it worse, that they were able to be in harms way is inexcusable. I have sympathy for those involved, but as long as we have events displaying vehicles being used in what amounts to a purely negligent manner, this kind of thing will happen, again and again. It is far from a unique case.

I actually have hope that rising fuel/tyre costs will see this kind of **** relegated to the history books.

** EDIT: OK, before I start getting flamed here, I don't mean to start a flamewar on the evils of motorsport. I actually have some logical concern here: I work in Occupational Health and Safety, and spent a good chunk of my career in transport management. [rant] I regularly have to chew out employees for their stupid driving antics near work or in company vehicles; we have a lot of young blokes in the 18-25 demographic who all think they are racing car drivers and unfortunately have the income to support their habits (they ALL seem to drive new SS utes or whatever the equally useless Ford equivalent is). By displaying how fast/dangerously it is possible to drive, many people assume that is how they can drive. And the majority of people do not have the skill/training to even handle their vehicles in a normal safe day to day manner, let alone a more dangerous one. Until we see an end to racing/burnout/demolition derby/whatever we have no hope of promoting a safe driving environment. [/rant]

[ExtremePC]

Originally Posted by Circuit

I agree with you Extreme as a professional racer he has to take responsibility and should not have done it.
But he definitely is not the only one responsible, the same thing would apply at a racetrack.
There are other people such as organizers and parents who are also to blame for this tragic event and they have to take some of the responsibility too.

Of course 60 Minutes may not have presented the whole story of whats going on either.

Agreed, 6 non consecutive sentences of 2nd or 3rd degree murder (whatever is equivalent to our manslaughter charges, depending on the State of prosecution) for Troy, Penalties and damages orders on the organisers, seems fair to me.

[djos]

I Signed the petition - Troy was donating is time and incredibly expensive car to a charity, the local Police and Fire Dept are resposible for not providing a safe environment for the crowd; imo Troy would have looked like a right ar$ehole had he pulled out.

[ExtremePC]

Originally Posted by djos

Troy would have looked like a right ar$ehole had he pulled out.

imo, yes, he would have looked like an ahole to some ....... and there would have been 6 more people alive to call him an ahole.

[WarpSpider]

Originally Posted by djos

Troy would have looked like a right ar$ehole had he pulled out.

And your point is? If the conditions weren't safe, he shouldn't have performed. Better you look like a ar$ehole than others be hurt/injured. The Police and Fire Dept. should have provided a safe environment but they didn't, so he should have used his head. If he's so much of a professional, he should have identified the risk involved and pulled the veto.

You're saying that your image is more important than your duty of care to others??? Dude, you're in the wrong century, and I think you should go have a long hard chat with whoever looks after safety at your workplace...

[audiophile]

in hindsight you can say what you like.

However:

1) should have stated suggested safety requirements.
2) parents should be ensuring the kids safety and their own
3) event organisers should have made sure safety was properly organised or looked at
3) local law enforcement and fire brigade should have known better

[GlenR]

While it is clear organisation was lacking in this, let's also keep a couple of things in mind.

1) what was Troy's contractual obligation to this? Sportsmen are often required to perform/appear whether they want to or not and Troy MAY have had no option but to appear. I don't know either way, but it is a possibility.,

2) Every one of the spectators knew what was going on, what Troy's display would be and so on. They must take responsibility for their actions. They chose to stand dangerously close to the car while it was in motion. No-one forced them.

Sure, we can argue that he should not have done it, but neither should the spect