On Sunday, 09 August 1970, the Gelleråsen track in Karlskoga, Sweden, hosted a varied racing programme of the popular Kanonloppet - Swerige Grand Prix, including the most important events of Sweden at the time, attracting a very large crowd of spectators. Its name - Swedish for "The Cannon Race" - derived from the Bofors weaponry factory located in Karlskoga. Although the Swedish cannon-manufacturer didn't sponsor the event, the Bofors industries were the biggest employers in Karlskoga, and most of the men behind the race worked there.
The main race was disputed by sportscars; its winner was Britain's Chris Craft in a McLaren M8C - Ford Cosworth DFV entered by Ecurie Evergreen, followed by Helmut Marko in a Porsche 908/2 and Joakim Bonnier, third in a Lola T212 - Ford. Peter Hanson in a Chevron B17 - Ford won the Formula 3 race, leading Gerry Birrell in a Brabham BT28 - Ford and Freddy Kottulinsky in a Lotus 59 - Ford.
Early in the day, the first race of the meeting was for touring cars up to 2000 cm3. During the first lap of that race the Ford Escort driven by Finnish competitor Pekka Virtanen and the BMW 2002 of Swedish Rune Tobiasson tangled in the kink at the flat out right-hander leading up to the back straight, before the Velodromkurvan ("Velodrom Turn"). The two cars went straight ahead, traveling 80 meters from the track, bounced at the bank surrounding the circuit and flew at high speed into the crowd. Several thousands of spectators were situated all along the straight, almost 100 of them were gathered at that point, a far way from the track.
The people were looking down at a dust-cloud raised by another competitor, Erik Berger who went off the track while Virtanen's and Tobiasson's cars were down in the Esset bends. All of them did not notice the next collision which happened a few seconds later.
Five spectators were killed and thirty-two other were injured; driver Pekka Virtanen broke one leg and got a minor head wound. Tobiasson was completely unharmed.
The first newspaper reports indicated that two of the victims were women, two were men and one was not identified yet. At least one of them was a Norwegian citizen. The names of the five victims, which were released the following day, were: Hans Peter Strand, 19-years-old from Oslo, Norway; Britt-Inger Andersson, 21, female, from Slottsbron, Sweden; Maj-Britt Jonsson, 49, female, from Eskilstuna, Sweden; John Helmer Berglund, 66, from Uppsala, Sweden; Åke Edenborg, 43, from Trångsund, Sweden. According to eyewitnesses report, only four were killed at the track, Mr. Edenborg died later at the Örebro hospital.
Different accounts reported six spectators killed instead of five; this has not yet been confirmed. Actually all the injured people survived, amongst them were several children and it was a terrible scene for the rescue team. Blood doners at the track left the stands for the hospitals. According to a source, the name of the Finnish driver involved in the accident was erroneously indicated as Turisku Urpiala. Rune Tobiasson didn't race for several years afterwards.
After the accident the race was immediately stopped and the second race for touring-car over 2000 cm3 and GT Group 4 cars was cancelled. More than two hours later the organizers decided to continue the event with the Formula 3 and the sportscar races, just to keep the big crowd calm and in place. The grids of the races were downsized to 16 cars each, several teams including Picko Troberg's Mennen Formula 3 team decided to abandon the meeting and not to start.
This was considered as the biggest tragedy in Swedish motorsport, the first fatal accident at the circuit since it was opened in 1952. The Gelleråsen track was considered as very safe and the organizers had introduced gravel traps with clay pellets in the sharp bends for this event. All racing was stopped in Sweden after the accident and was not allowed until the tracks had been inspected and found safe. Not only Karlskoga got in trouble, but it also meant the end for the little Dalsland Ring, and the already criticized Skarpnäck airfield course never got another licence.
The Gelleråsen track was run by the Karlskoga Motor Klubb, a well known amateur club. The accident of 09 August 1970, which followed the deaths of Ingert Molin in a E-Kart race at Knutstorp on 30 May, and Derrick Williams at Anderstorp in a Formula 5000 race on 28 June of that same year, caused profound commotion in Sweden, and Karlskoga which had planned to rebuild the track to Formula 1 standard, was closed for several years. When it reopened a new linkage connected the straights leading to and returning from the Velodromkurvan, bypassing it and shortening the track length from 3.172 to 2.530 kilometers.
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