Despite a high-profile fatality at one of its racetracks recently, area emergency medical response officials aren't seeing an increase in injury-related transports from Competition Park.

So far this year, Pasquotank-Camden Emergency Medical Services Director Jerry Newell said his agency has transported four injured park users to Albemarle Hospital and another to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital in Norfolk, Va.

That compares to nine injury transports from the park to Albemarle Hospital in 2006 and 13 last year.

In addition, Nightingale medical transport helicopters have been called to Competition Park 28 times since 2004, Newell said. Eleven of those calls were in 2007.

Newell said the number of Nightingale calls could partly be due to EMS' decision to automatically dispatch for a helicopter in all accident calls. Sometimes those calls are canceled when the severity of the injury doesn't warrant a Nightingale flight, he said.

Newell said the calls for Nightingale's assistance are spread fairly equally across all race days at Competition Park, which are Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays. Competition Park is home to several racetracks, including Dixieland Speedway and the Elizabeth City Motocross track.

Newell said the death of a Granville County 16-year-old, Trevor Guess, earlier this month drew a lot of attention, but it was the only fatality that he can remember at Competition Park. Guess' father, Tracy Guess, said the teen was wearing full safety gear when his all-terrain vehicle struck a wall.

Wendy Tabler, president of the Elizabeth City Motorcycle Club, the group that operates the motocross track, also says the racing complex's accident rate is low.

"We've been around since about 1960, and we've probably had less than 10 serious accidents," she said recently. "Broken arms and stuff are much more common."

Tabler said the complex has a specific area set aside for the Nightingale helicopter to land. The area is roped off and kept open to facilitate quick landings and patient evacuations, she said.

Newell said ambulance crews, usually made up of volunteer EMS personnel, are stationed at the racing complex during events. Race organizers pay the personnel for their time, but the ambulance fuel costs come out of the EMS budget.

Newell said the amount of fuel used to get ambulances to and from Competition Park is minimal. If an ambulance was not on standby, the quickest response time to an accident at the park would be between seven and 10 minutes, he said.

"The costs are negligible compared to the service that's provided," Newell said.

Pasquotank-Camden EMS also stations ambulances at other sporting events, specifically those at the local high schools and Elizabeth City State University. Injuries at those venues don't appear to be as numerous as those at Competition Park, Newell said.

Staff Writer Toby Tate contributed to this report.