Ted Abbott was in his seventh year of flagging at the Danbury Racearena when on Saturday, August 25th, tragedy struck. It was a racing accident on the fourth lap of the third heat, when one car bobbled off of turn four in the midst of several others. One car got airborne after being struck by another and slid along the outside guardrail just like others have for twenty six years. But this one, instead of sliding off, instead flew high in the air, and struck the starters stand leaving it twisted and mangled. In the line of duty, flags in hand, Ted was  either hit by flying fence post or the car itself. As the grandstand full of patrons watched in horror, Ted was hurled into the air and never regained consciousness.

Miraculously, Ted's assistant starter Frank Arnone, standing not two feet behind him, stayed on the starters stand and was not hit by either the car or the flying debris.

Almost immediately after the accident, it began to rain. With no power at the start/finish line, the lights out and the entire grandstand in total shock, management called the races in the middle of the rain storm.

For many years before Ted's involvement at the Racearena, the starter would flag from trackside, waving his green flag to start the race, then heading for cover in the infield as the cars raced by. As the cars got faster, the flagman then waved his flags from the outside of the race track on a wooden platform just a few feet off the ground. That platform was replaced just a few years before Ted's death with a concrete and steel starters stand that stood twelve feet off the ground.

One can only wonder if Ted would have survived the accident had he been on the old ground level platform. Ted was the first and only "racing" fatality at the Racearena.