22-year-old John Minder of Pottsville, PA died after being hit by a car on PA Route 125. He had just started a drag race between two other Pottsville men and was watching them speed away when he stepped off of the double-yellow line and into the path of another car. He was pronounced dead at Good Samaritan Hospital in Pottsville.

Submitted on 08/18/2005

Submitted by: Jeff Spirko
Reference: The Morning Call, 2005/08/18

Copyright © 2005 DarwinAwards.com

Jack said:
Maybe Toss: Other
Since this was an illegal drag race, I'm not going to call it a "work place accident." Instead, I'm going to call this an extreme sports accident.

Tracy said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I'm going to disagree with Jack.... he wasn't actually doing the racing, you'd have thought he'd be safe as the starter.... and could have taken more care

Kelly said:
Definitely Keep: Darwin Award
The man who was killed had started the race. I.E. he was STANDING on the road. Evidently he forgot it was a ROAD, not a RACE TRACK, with non-racing, fast moving cars, driving down it.

Charles said:
Neutral: Darwin Award
I'm going to vote with Kelly -- he should have been aware that there were other cars on the road as well. All the same... traffic does seem to cause an awful lot of deaths, and I'm not sure this is truly exceptional.

James said:
Maybe Toss: Lacks Excellence
I have to agree with Jack. There's something missing here. While the incident itself (an illegal drag race) sets the stage for potential Darwin grade stupidity, there's something rather pedestrian (no pun intended) about the late Mr. Minder's demise...So sorry!

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