Monster horror: Announcer crushed at JPJ truck event
The emcee of Friday night's monster truck performance at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville–- Ken Dickinson of Lyndhurst–- appears to have been seriously injured when struck by one of the trucks, the Maine-based Crushstation. Newsplex asks if venue too small for such rallies. A Saturday morning call to promoter Checkered Flag Productions was not answered, but a call to UVA Hospital found that Dickinson is in the the post-operative area of the cardiovascular-thoracic unit. On Saturday afternoon, he was listed in critical condition, according to hospital spokesperson David Foreman, who offered no further information on his injuries or prognosis.
–updated 4:49pm, Saturday, March 13; critical condition
–updated 11:48am, Monday, March 15 with eyewitness photo
24 comments
I personally have known this announcer for the better part of 20 years. He is one of the safest people in motor sports that I have ever met, and he is very experienced at this. He doesn't stand where its not safe, and he doesn't let others stand where its not safe. I've seen him shut down an event because people (or himself) weren't where they should have been. DO NOT BLAME the man who is fighting for his life for doing his job. You don't know the man, and you don't know the situation.
Wanted for research study: people willing to subject themselves to exceedingly high noise levels and excessive carbon monoxide inhalation. We'll pay you negative fifty dollars.
Time to head off to a cigarette smoking contest. Gotta love the local activities!
um ya i second the "quality monster truck rally?" and the announcer shouldn't have been so close to the trucks especially where there might be a possibility of him getting hurt like he did i feel for the guy but we cant blame it all on the size of the venue theres this thing called human error tht has a lot to do w/t accidents like this it coulda shoulda been prevented
Wait, i haven't heard about a striptease joint?? Where is that, i am all about supporting local businesses and all.
I went to this event 2 years ago to see what it was all about, and while i wouldn't go again, i didn't feel that it was excessively small. This seems to be a problem an events company getting a local announcer with little experience with this kind of event and a lack of communication and training in such a dangerous situation.
I do like blaming the jack, uva and c-ville for all of it though. So here goes, uva is a stuck up money grubbing horn, and intentionally tries to get people hurt to make the news. While Chancellorsville is a has been, stuck up gang infested slum of a city that doesn't give their residents any services, but taxes too much to provide their residents with services. Oh and everyone is a cell centered, tax and spend liberal racist.
I think i covered it all.
Would the people involved like to go back and change things, sure, but unfortunately accidents happen.
I've been to plenty great truck shows,all outdoors tho. If u don't like them don't go
"A quality monster truck rally?"
could I second that?
just so people know, even though it was obviously in jest, my post got edited. The Hook should probably mark edits.
I'm getting quite tired of reading all of these comments that are saying that JPJ is too small for monster trucks. This accident has absolutely positively NOTHING to do with the size of the venue people!! Yes, these promoters were very un-professional but it's also largely the announcers own fault. I mean he should have known better than to even be near the trucks while running. He shouldn't have been on the floor at all. An announcer got killed several months ago by getting ran over byba monster truck named Samson in this same manner. All I can say is what in the world was this guy thinking and why is everyone just pointing their fingers and trying to find someone to blame. Blaming the venue? Come on people. Accidents happen. That's common sense.
Holy crap, that had to hurt. Hopefully the guy is all right. I always felt the JPJ was to small of a venue for such an event. Crazy!!!
I was told when we moved up here that JPJ has some great things going on but one was the monster trucks venue that some say is too large and dangerous too. I hope this is a wakeup call to the organizers that this is way too big for JPJ! Sad that it took someone getting seriously injured to get this change I hope will happen now.
Yeah, wait to stick it to Chancellorsville, although you left out the part about Stonewall Jackson getting shot there.
http://www.komonews.com/news/37765479.html
Jan 17, 2009, similar sized arena, in Tacoma, WA. Spectator killed, event proceeds. Then end of the article catalogs other incidents of the last two decades.
Umm... that would be Chancellorsville.
FRIDAY, FRIDAY, FRIDAY!
Wow. Well, you know how Charlottesville is this city of culture huh? Late night concert venues with people getting kidnapped, eating dinner on a mall where you are assaulted with a Pavilion blasting out at 100 dbs, a stiptease joint, and monster truck events where the drivers run over people. It's crushing fan yeah, baby!
I tell ya, I don't know what to do with all that culture.
The JPJ is jinxed.
The roots of Monster Trucking go back almost 30 years. And after all of that experience they have not figured out where to place the emcee so he/she does not get run over?
Wow! There is a theme running in the Hooks' articles and I think, again, that the folks that made leaving snow on your sidewalks a criminal offense in Charlottesville, are the same folks that let the emcee get in harms-way of the Monster Trucks.
Get the emcee off the floor! Duh! Or at least let us make a Mount Chipotle for him to stand on. Then he can make at least ten commandants of things "thou shalt not do" as emcee at Monster Truckin'. "Thou shalt not get run over" should be number one! Duh!
Went with my Cub Scouts to Monster Trucks at the Jack, it is a ridiculous venue for a monster truck event. Instead of a quality monster truck rally it just looks like the University trying to squeeze every dollar out of the Jack.
A quality monster truck rally?
I too feel this venue is to small for these trucks. Last show, last night!
Why the Regress bites, part 547
This story is nowhere to be found on the frontpage of their website
Good job, Hawes
This is not the first time this has ever happened. In January of 2009, a promoter of Monster Trucks in Madison, WI walked out in front of the truck and was crushed. It's a dangerous place to be. He had no idea the truck was there or was going to be there. "A lot of the direction that comes after driving over the cars is dependent on how the trucks hit the cars, and what happens with the trucks when they come to a landing," so no one knows where the truck is going to be. He saw the first one go by and probably didn't hear the second one. I have been to these kinds of shows before and know that there is so much noise you can't tell where the sound is coming from.
JPJ is the largest indoor arena in the state. Or commonwealth.
"I think i covered it all."
You also left out naive.