A professional drag racer from Butler County is talking to Channel 11 about surviving a fiery crash. It didn’t happen on the racetrack -- but on an interstate highway.
He tells us that he almost lost his family to a wrong-way driver who may have been under the influence.
“He hit here, I swerved to miss him, and he cleaned this whole thing off,” Jeff Lutz said.
Lutz was showing us the damage left behind to the motorhome and trailer he was driving in Idaho last week, just a few miles away from his destination — a raceway in Washington state.
“I look up and I seen these dull headlights. I’m like, ‘what the... is that?’ And I swerved at the last minute. I seen him come in and there’s nothing I can do,” Lutz recalled.
Lutz is no stranger to danger, as a professional drag racing star and “street outlaws” standout from Callery in Butler County.
But after 20 years of racing, it’s hard for him to comprehend how close he came to losing everything to a wrong-way driver who he says state police told him was likely under the influence of drugs.
“The whole thing was on fire. And all I could think was, I’m not getting my wife because she’s in the back bedroom and everything was on fire. The walls were on fire,” Lutz said.
But, they did all manage to make it out safely with only minor injuries. The wrong way driver, a 62-year-old man, also survived.
“You know, somebody was looking out for us. I feel lucky because I got everything out of there that I needed. You know, I mean, the rest of that stuff can be replaced.” Lutz said.
Lutz says they were able to find and save some of his wife’s jewelry, which meant a lot to her.
The insurance is expected to cover most of their losses. But, the emotional toll has been bigger, and Lutz is not sure when he’ll race again.
“It makes you realize how quickly life can change in an instant and that changed my life forever,” he said.
State police in Idaho say they’re still waiting for toxicology tests to determine if the wrong-way driver was impaired, and what charges he may face.
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