Published: 6/17/07, 11:25 AM EDT
By WILL YORK
SELMER, Tenn. (AP) - Three more people have died after a drag-racing car went out of control and careened into a crowd of spectators, raising the death toll to seven, state officials said Sunday.
The crash occurred Saturday night during an "exhibition burnout" - when a driver spins his tires to make them heat up and smoke - at the Cars for Kids charity event in Selmer, located about 80 miles east of Memphis.
Several other people were injured.
Amateur video of the crash, broadcast on WMC-TV in Memphis, showed the car's engine revving loudly before the vehicle sped down a highway lined with spectators on both sides. After a few hundred feet, the smoking car skidded off the road.
The identities of the victims and the driver were not immediately released.
Witness Scott Henley said the vehicle started burning off its tires, then fishtailed and slammed into a utility pole before spinning around into the audience.
Selmer Police Chief Neal Burks said "bodies were flying into the air when it happened."
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