Death of girl, 7, in Florida raceway crash fuels grief amid sport’s popularity – Tampa Bay Times

The tragic death of 7-year-old Elienisse Zoe Diaz Rodriguez in a drag-racing accident at a popular east Orange County speedway is generating grief, sympathy, and focus on a sport that enthusiasts insist is generally safe — even for children too young to drive a regular automobile.
“Junior drag racing has been very, very, very safe for more than 20 years,” said Bill Hartzel, an Orlando resident who has been racing at the Orlando Speed World Dragway track since he was youngster nearly six decades ago.
“This is entry-level racing and they have all the safety equipment that the big boys have: the helmet, the gloves, the seat belts, the fire suits, the HANS device,” he said, referring to the head-and-neck support device that attaches to the driver’s helmet. The regulations are created and enforced by racing associations, not government entities.
Ernie Padget Sr. agreed with Hartzel’s sentiment, remaining supportive of racing even though his son, Chad, was killed while drag racing at the same race track nearly a decade ago.
“The cars [at the junior level] really don’t go that fast,” Padget said. “The main thing they emphasize at the track is safety.”
Chad Padget was 41 years old when he died from neck and head injuries in September 2015 after losing control of his roadster at Orlando Speed World. The vehicle hit a wall and flipped over. Records showed he was going about 140 mph.
Elienisse was at the Speed World track Sunday — she had celebrated her seventh birthday just three days earlier — to race in her white-and-orange car sporting her name emblazoned on the side in blue. At her level, cars are limited to a roughly 40-mph maximum.
State troopers said she lost control of the Junior Dragster racecar on the eighth-of-a-mile track and struck a 34-year-old Speed World employee before hitting a concrete wall. The employee received non-life-threatening injuries.
Elienisse was rushed to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children near downtown Orlando where she died Tuesday. Law enforcement officials are treating the crash as an accident.
“My sweet angel! Mommy will always love you for ever!” her mother, Sharryl Rodriguez, said in a Facebook post.
A teary family member reached by phone Friday said it’s “a very difficult time for us” and did not want to comment.
On social media, family members remembered Elienisse as a sweet girl who enjoyed going to Disney World and loved racing cars as well as animals — especially cows.
She may have seemed shy and quiet in public, but at home, she was as active “as a hurricane!” her mother said on Facebook.
A GoFundMe account set up by her family to cover funeral expenses had collected more than $29,000 by Friday afternoon.
“She fulfilled her dream of driving her Junior Dragster,” the page said. “After fighting for her life for 2 days, the doctors confirmed her brain death. … We created this go fund me to commemorate the life of our beautiful princess.”
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Eastland Christian School in Orlando — where Elienisse was a first grader — urged prayers for her family on its Facebook page.
“She was a bright light in our school community, and we are thankful for the time we had with her,” the post said. “Her beautiful smile will be deeply missed by all of us.”
The National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) established its Junior Drag Racing League in 1992 as a way of luring young racers between the ages of 5 and 17 to compete safely.
Children have to be at least 6 years old to race on a track of one-eighth of a mile and cannot cover that distance faster than 12.9 seconds. Adults can compete on tracks of up to one-quarter of mile at faster speeds.
Because Elienisse was 7 years old, she was allowed to compete with racers up to 9 years old. Under that designation, competitors are restricted to completing the distance at no faster than 11.9 seconds.
The vehicles for the young drivers use five-horsepower, single-cylinder engines that can reach speeds of up to 80 mph. The cars also have to provide drivers with protections from rollovers. Since 2020, when NHRA updated its latest regulations, drivers have been required to wear head and neck restraints.
Built in the late 1960s — at what was then the far outskirts of Orlando’s downtown and suburbs — the Orlando Speed World Dragway was a place where racing enthusiasts could practice their sport safely.
Local leaders and enthusiasts have long said such tracks deter dangerous street racing on public roads late at night. In 2021, Osceola County Sheriff Marcos Lopez hosted a series of events at the track after a crash authorities said was caused by street racers resulted in the death of an 11-year-old girl.
In a post on social media, Orlando Speed World said: “We are deeply heartbroken by the tragic incident that took place Sunday. Our thoughts and prayers are with Elienisse’s family. Motorsports is built on passion, but moments like these remind us of the risks that come with what we love.”
On Friday, the track started a two-day event called “Cadillac Attack,” billed as the “biggest Cadillac racing event of the year.” Racers roared along a quarter-mile track, sometimes two at a time, reaching speeds exceeding 150 mph as dozens looked on from stands. Bordered by bright green concrete walls on either side, the track was glossed with a resin to improve tire traction.
Orlando Speed World has faced three negligence lawsuits in the last 10 years by people who suffered injuries at the track. All three cases involved spectators, two of whom filed complaints in 2023 alleging they were hit by flying vehicle parts.
One case was dismissed after the plaintiff’s lawyers failed to serve the complaint to the company, while the other is ongoing. A third lawsuit filed in 2017 involved a man hurt by a bottle during an altercation in which he wasn’t involved. That case that was settled out of court.
There are no records of lawsuits involving injuries or deaths of racers. But like almost any other activity, drag racing can be dangerous, Hartzel said.
“This is a family-oriented activity,” he said. “If you look at all the safety regulations that NHRA has implemented, they have done a tremendous job.”
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