Drag racer killed at S. Carolina track

ORANGEBURG, S.C. - A drag racer was killed after his car crashed into a guard rail in front of about 100 spectators.<br> <br> Dean Martin, 53, died at Orangeburg Drag Strip on Sunday afternoon due to severe head injuries after he was partially ejected from his 1960s-era Chevrolet Nova, coroner Samuetta Marshall said.<br> <br> Martin was testing his car&#39;s engine to see how fast it could go, and crashed as he tried to slow down after topping 90 mph, said Zane DeWitt, the track&#39;s longtime operator. The car flipped after hitting the guard rail and Martin was partially thrown from the vehicle.<br> <br> &#34;The car was not in the best structural shape, so we are not real clear at this point whether speed was a factor,&#34; Marshall said.<br> <br> Neither DeWitt nor Marshall could remember another fatality at the strip, which has been open for more than 40 years.