Martin initially spun and backed into the fourth turn wall, coming to rest on the racing line entering the tri-oval.
However, 16 seconds after the initial crash, just as Martin was unbuckling his belts, Deborah Renshaw, going full speed along the racing line in the belief that the track was clear, careened directly into the driver's side door of Martin at about 160 mph[2] and killed him instantly.
ARCA received criticism because its regulations did not require spotters to be located on top of the grandstands.
Renshaw's spotter was standing on top of the team trailer,[3] and thus could not see the wreck and communicate its location to his driver.
In the aftermath of the accident, ARCA mandated that each car that went onto the track had to have an assigned spotter in the spotter's stand, and a yellow warning light was mandated for the car's dashboard that illuminated when a caution was declared on the race track.