Mike Gagliardo fatal crash at Mosport (May 20, 2001) THE MOST COMPLETE FOOTAGE

Mike Gagliardo was killed and Gary Longo of Evanston, seriously injured in an accident at Mosport International Raceway during the Trans-Am Series 125 auto race. Witnesses told that Gagliardo, a part-time driver in just his fifth race, appeared to lose control over his green Chevrolet Corvette coming out of Turn 1. Gagliardo's car snapped sideways and Longo was unable to avoid him, slamming into the passenger side of the car at more than 120 miles per hour (190 km/h).

The accident came on the 38th lap of the 50-lap feature race. Johnny Miller, who finished third after the race restarted, narrowly avoided the crash. "It was a terrible wreck, I mean the violence of it was profuse," he told. "(The wreck) missed me by about an inch. "I could tell by the violence that the bodywork left the car, that the energy unloaded inside the car was incredible."

Mike Gagliardo, was taken to Lakeridge Health Centre in Bowmanville and pronounced dead on arrival. Longo was airlifted to Sunnybrook Medical Centre in Toronto where he was reported awake and listed in critical condition with a spinal cord injury. "It is a tragedy," said Miller. "The roof was gone, all the bodywork was off the side of his car."

Gagliardo is the 14th fatality at Mosport since it opened in 1961. Gary Longo is a former marine and a series rookie.

Mike Gagliardo was killed at the age of 46 during his first outing of the 2001 Sports Car Club of America's Trans Am Series season. Gagliardo raced infrequently during the early 1990s, but recently got back into it because he wanted to do some serious racing before he got too old. "I wasn't happy about it, but I knew that it was something he loved to do more than anything else," his wife said.