Road Where 6 Were Killed By Dragster Lacked Rails

"This is definitely not the kind of road you should be drag-racing on," Moore said. "This isn't a flat, open surface like you have at a racetrack."

Nick Staples of Columbus, Miss., who was at the show with his wife and three children, said he was standing 20 feet from where the car plowed into the audience.

"There should have been guardrails," Staples said. "But even if there had been, it wouldn't have mattered."

The Highway Patrol said Raven Griswell, 15, of Finger, Tenn., and Sean Michael Driskill, 22, of Adamsville, Tenn., died at the scene. Four others -- Brook L. Pope, 20, of Selmer; Scarlett Replogle, 15, of Selmer; Kimberly A. Barfield, 17, of Adamsville; and Nicole Griswell, no age or hometown given -- died at hospitals.

Forty thousand to 60,000 people had been expected to attend the event.

After a parade of vehicles ranging from antique cars to modern dragsters, Moore thought the show was over.

"I was about to head across the street, and I saw him barreling toward us," he said.

Matthew Brammer, administrator of the AMS Pro Modified Series, which sanctions drag races, said Critchley had driven the car involved in the wreck in competition.

Critchley's Web site says he began his career in an engine-building shop in Brisbane, Australia, in 1986 and then raced on the Australian circuit in the 1990s. He moved to the United States in 1998.