SEBRING — Investigators are asking spectators to turn over any video they may have recorded of a jet dragster crash that took place Thursday night, claiming the life of 24-year-old driver Katarina Moller of Sarasota.
Moller was making her first run in the car during a regular drag racing event at Sebring International Raceway, according to a statement from the track.
The cause of the crash is being investigated by the Highland County Sheriff's Office. Spectators who were in attendance and recorded Moller's run can contact investigators at (863) 402-7250.
Moller, who went by the nickname "Kat," was a popular racer at local short tracks and a jet dragster driver for Larsen Motorsports, according to track officials.
"Kat has been part of our racing family for five years and we cannot begin to express our sorrow," Chris Larsen, chief executive of Larsen Motorsports in Palm Bay, said on the company's website.
"We knew Kat well and were big fans of her personality and her driving skill. Sebring International Raceway and the entire racing community are heartbroken," said a statement from Wayne Estes, president and general manager of the Sebring track.
As a 19-year-old sophomore majoring in mechanical engineering at the University of South Florida, Moller competed in the Jet Dragster division of the International Hot Rod Association as one of four drivers on an an-female Larsen Motorsports team.
"I grew up racing at Bradenton," Moller, a Sarasota native, said in an interview then with the Tampa Bay Times. "Every track is slightly different. The track conditions are different, and there are bumps in different places."
The car she drove at the time burned 25 gallons of fuel per quarter-mile pass in turbocharged General Electric J85 engines, used in small jet aircraft. Dragsters are a crowd pleaser for their speed, jet-like roar and big plumes of flame and smoke.