John Westbrook

John Westbrook, center, leaves the Cumberland County Courthouse in Carlisle with his family on July 17, 2014. Westbrook suffered injuries in a crash at Williams Grove Speedway that left him a quadriplegic in 2008. The prosecution is seeking medical care expenses, and they are also suing Williams Grove Speedway for pain and suffering. Christine Baker | cbaker@pennlive.com

(CHRISTINE BAKER)

CARLISLE — The drop from a race track onto an access road below the track that paralyzed a sprint car driver at Williams Grove Speedway may not have been as far down as earlier testimony indicated.

And, according to an expert testifying for the defense, a maneuver pulled by driver John Westbrook may have been part of what caused that crash in the first place.

Trial continued Thursday afternoon in the suit Westbrook filed against Williams Grove, claiming the track's negligence in failing to install a catch fence that would have prevented him from going over a drop off is what caused his paralysis.

But when mechanical and aeronautical engineer Robert Butler took the stand in Cumberland County Court Thursday, he rebutted the prior testimony of plaintiff expert Luka Serdar, who had said Westbrook's car fell 16 feet from the track, onto the access road, causing his injuries.

Butler showed several slides indicating for the jury that while Westbrook did go off of the drop off, the height of the drop itself was miscalculated by Serdar.

"All his numbers are inflated," Butler said.



Serdar had calculated the fall from the top point of the car as it went over a guardrail to the bottom of the drop off. Westbrook actually went down the drop off at an angle, Butler explained, moving at a different trajectory. His calculations show the car traveled about 11 feet down the drop off, but due to the trajectory, it only dropped 3 ½ feet straight down.

And cars can often drop from that height while remaining on the track, Williams Grove's attorney, Brigid Alford, pointed out. Westbrook's attorney, David Inscho, had been building the case that Westbrook would not have been injured as severely as he had been if a catch fence would have been there to keep him on the track, or if the drop off had been leveled.

And according to Butler, the crash may have been partially resulted from Westbrook's actions.

Though several witnesses testified earlier Westbrook did nothing wrong in that race, Butler said the problem started with a maneuver Westbrook attempted on the previous turn.

"If you pull it off, you're a hero," Butler said. "If you don't, you lose a bunch of spots."

He said Westbrook picked up speed, but took a bigger arc to the top of the sloped track. The problem with a bigger arc, Butler said, is you run out of room when you get to a turn, and have to slow down to avoid hitting the wall.

Westbrook did slow down, allowing other cars to catch up, occupying the same space and resulting in a crash, Butler said.

But on cross examination, Inscho asked him what Westbrook slowing down had to do with one car hitting another, knocking it into Westbrook, and asked what about that maneuver was improper, or unusual in sprint car racing.

"'Improper' is some legal term an engineer can't get into," Butler replied, adding his job was not to blame anyone, but to locate the chain of events that caused the crash.

And Inscho took issue with Butler's numbers because the video showed the car leaving the track at a higher level that Butler had indicated in his testimony, but Butler said the difference was due to the angle at which the video was shot, which he said Serdar miscalculated.

Crashing is a risk that comes with racing, Alford has been arguing through trial. Also at issue was that drivers sign a release before racing at Williams Grove, which was the topic of some testimony Thursday.

Earlier Thursday, a faxed copy of an undated release form Westbrook signed that the defense said was from the night of the crash was presented, and the faxed copy had the date at the top of Sept. 9, 2008 – four days after Westbrook's crash.

While Alford is arguing the fax date shows this is the release form related to the crash, Inscho pointed out the form itself is not filled out, and only contains signatures. It is missing information such as the date, he said.

"Would you agree the date is an important part of this document," Inscho asked Williams Grove general manager Justin Loh, and he said it is.

Loh had testified, though, he knew it was the correct form because when these releases are filed each week, they are set in a bin with the most recent forms on top, and there were no events between Westbrook's crash and the filing of the forms.

Testimony will continue Friday.