Stories of car show tragedy
seem poignant and surreal
Published June 24, 2007
By Stacy Jones
Special Columnist

All that remains of the accident is a set of skid marks running down a stretch of Mulberry Avenue. Just a little past those marks, however, against a light pole in front of the Sonic Drive-In, rests the real mementoes: votive candles, silk flowers, stuffed animals and photographs. Above all of these items someone has tacked onto the pole an imitation street sign that reads “Kimberly Drive,” in memory of 17-year-old Kimberly Barfield, one of the victims killed in last Saturday’s deadly accident in Selmer that claimed the lives of six people at the annual Cars for Kids charity car show.

That Saturday night I happened to be sitting behind my computer, looking up some information on the Internet. On one particular search engine, one of the news headlines read, “Drag racer kills four bystanders at Tennessee car show.”

I dismissed the headline, thinking the accident probably happened somewhere further east in Tennessee. I lived in east Tennessee for eight years, and I know that the sport of racing -- both professional and amateur -- draws many avid fans in that area.

Not over 20 minutes later, I sat down to watch television, where I discovered that the “Breaking News” had taken place not in some other part of Tennessee, but in McNairy County, my own native part of the state.

I reeled to think that one of the victims might be someone I knew. My first thoughts involved my friend Susan, a high school classmate who also attended college with me. Susan and her husband have been spectators at the popular car show in the past.

The names of the victims were not immediately released, and, in fact, the death toll had to be revised more than once. The initial headlines stated that four people were killed, while seven deaths were reported later. Finally an accurate count was given: six people were dead. More than 20 remained injured.

When the names were released, it was especially sad because of their ages. I didn’t know any of the victims personally, but the oldest on the list was 22. Four of the six were teenagers. I couldn’t help but think back to events I had attended as a teen: fairs, carnivals, parades, and shows such as this one. It could have just as easily happened to me or to any of my friends.

When photographs of those killed were made available, I recognized one person in particular: 20-year-old Brooke Pope. I recall seeing her on occasion while at McNairy Central High School, my alma mater, where Pope graduated a couple of years ago and where my husband works as a school photographer. A former member of the MCHS band, I remembered her as a cheerful person with a sweet disposition.

I recognized the name of another victim, although I couldn’t recall the source at first. Then I remembered. I had seen 22-year-old Sean Driskill in the previous issue of the McNairy County weekly newspaper, the Independent Appeal. Driskill was a newlywed, married May 7, to Amy Meeks, who was injured in the accident and hospitalized at the Med in Memphis. The couple had been married a little over a month.

One of the most heart-wrenching stories, however, was that of Raven Griswell, 15 and Nicole Griswell, 19, the two sisters who were killed in the accident. Raven was apparently killed instantly, crushed under the car. Nicole died the next day. According to news stories, Nicole lost a leg, suffered a significant blood loss, and doctors were unable to remedy the situation. They were able to keep her alive long enough for her parents to arrive at the Med, where she died the next day.

A neighbor of the Griswells, Selmer police Lt. Robert Heathcock said in an Associated Press news report, “I honestly believe God took both of them because one couldn’t stand to be without the other.”

In the aftermaths of the horrific deaths, blame and accusations have been hurled. The proximity of the crowd to the event has been questioned, as well as the past driving record of the dragster. The most reasonable question seems to regard why a city would sanction a potentially dangerous stunt so close to a crowd of onlookers -- despite the number of years this same stunt has been performed previously without incident.

Last Monday, I was in Selmer and drove past the site where the tragedy occurred. Two news trucks -- one from Nashville and another from a north Alabama TV station -- sat nearby while a few mourners milled about the area.
All of it seemed surreal. This was the same small town where I was graduated from high school in 1992, a town where very little seemed to happen -- back then, at least. This was the same Sonic Drive-In where my friends and I used to “cruise” many afternoons after school.

The most ironic aspect, though, was the fact that all of these young people were killed at a charity event that raises funds to assist “children who have been injured, handicapped or in financial need,” as stated on the organization’s official website, CarsForKidsUSA.org.

Visitors to the site can also obtain information about donating to the fund the organization has set up for the victims of the tragedy, a loss, that is, according to the organization, “deep within our hearts and we will carry the scars of each loss forever.”

(Stacy Jones, a Southerner, is a master of fine arts student in fiction writing at The University of Memphis. She is a native of Guys, Tenn., and her columns, which appear on Saturdays, are archived at Southern-Drawl.com.)

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