Jeffrey John Krosnoff (September 24, 1964 – July 14, 1996) was an American race car driver. A competitor in the CART PPG Indy Car World Series, he was killed in a racing accident during the 1996 Molson Indy Toronto.
The wreck at the Molson Indy-car race in Toronto, on Lap 93 of what was to be a 95-lap race, occurred when the wheels of Krosnoff's Reynard-Toyota touched those of the Reynard-Mercedes driven by Stefan Johansson of Sweden. Such tire-to-tire contact can easily launch a car into the air, because of an Indy car's relatively light weight (1,550 pounds) and the speed with which the very sticky racing tires are rotating. That is exactly what happened to Krosnoff's car, which struck Gary Avrin and a CART observer as it cartwheeled into a debris fence and struck a tree and a fence post.
Krosnoff was at the fastest point of the circuit when the wreck occurred, and the impact disintegrated the car. There was so much debris spread over the track that the race had to be stopped two laps short of the finish. Adrian Fernandez of Mexico was declared the winner, his first Indy-car victory. Huxter said that the tree was behind both the concrete retaining wall and the debris fence. When asked to comment on whether the tree's proximity to the track had ever caused any safety concerns in the past, Saal said: "We'll have to wait for the final report."
Jeff Krosnoff was killed instantly, as was Gary Avrin. The latter was a volunteer who waved flags to help warn the drivers of oncoming hazards. At the point where Krosnoff's car hit Avrin and the other course worker, Huxter said, there is a gap between the concrete wall and debris fence. Without it, the flag crew wouldn't be able to lean over the wall to wave the flags where the drivers could see them. If the wreck had occurred 50 yards farther up or down the course, it is unlikely that Avrin would have been hurt.
Since CART came into being nearly 20 years ago, there have been four fatalities at its events. Three of them -- the two on Sunday and the death of another corner worker at Vancouver in 1990 - have occurred during races on temporary downtown street courses where the tight confines cause frequent contact between cars.
Krosnoff competed in Japan in Formula 3000, where he was active from 1989 to 1995. Krosnoff also competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans several times, scoring 2nd in 1994. In the 1996 season, he made 11 starts in the CART Champ Car Series, driving a Reynard-Toyota for Arciero-Wells Racing.
