Girl, 16, injured in sprint car crash at Petaluma Speedway

A 16-year-old girl was in stable condition Tuesday at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital after a Monday night sprint car collision during a race at the Petaluma Speedway, according to her parents.

Chelsea Blevins of Janesville in Lassen County suffered a torn spleen, cracked ribs and some internal bleeding in the crash, her mother, Lori Blevins, said.

She was moved out of the intensive care unit Tuesday.

Blevins was racing when her tires clipped another car as they headed down the front straightaway of the track traveling about 60 mph.

The teen’s car then flipped and crashed into the fence next to the flag stand, her father, Greg Blevins, said.

She had to be extracted from the car in the aftermath of the five-car pileup, he said.

Blevins had previously raced in Oregon and was in her first year competing in California on the Sprint Car Challenge Tour.

She had raced at the Petaluma track before, most recently on April 30, when she won the C main race and advanced later to the B main competition.

She finished eighth that night.