Steven De Leeuw's Fatal Crash @ St. Joseph County 4-H Fairgrounds 2012

The St. Joseph County 4-H Fairgrounds in South Bend, Indiana, hosted the "Summer Thunder Mud Bog" race meeting on Saturday night, 28 July 2012. The mud bogging event was marred by a huge accident that resulted in the death of one of the contestants.

Veteran mud bog racer Steven De Leeuw, 48-year-old of West Olive, Michigan, died of blunt force trauma to the head and chest, when his vehicle hit the barrier, flipped over multiple times and then landed on a chain-link fence.

Reportedly, Steven De Leeuw tried to turn his sand rail dune buggy to avoid the concrete barriers at the end of the track, but the vehicle instead did a barrel roll and hydroplaned on the mud pit, preventing the racer from braking. De Leeuw’s car went out of control at an estimated speed of 80 mi/h (129 km/h) and crashed. It took about twenty minutes before the emergency crews could extricate him from the wreckage. De Leeuw died on the way to South Bend Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. The injuries he sustained were listed as "non-survivable".

Steven De Leeuw was first involved with the sport back in the 1980s and soon he directed his passion to mud racing. At the St. Joseph County 4-H Fairgrounds he was taking part in the first race of the night program. The horrific accident was witnessed by Steven's son, Luke De Leeuw who was at the track helping his father with the car. More than 1,500 spectators were in attendance, watching the races.

R.I.P