Racing Led to Desert Crash

Two carloads of friends from Orange County who apparently were racing Friday on a desert highway during their drive home from Las Vegas were involved in an accident that left one carload of four youths dead. Two people from San Diego County who were in a third vehicle were also killed.

California Highway Patrol authorities said Saturday that all four of the Orange County victims--Cang Van Nguyen, 22; Tuan Nguyen, 19; Nhan Nguyen, 15; and Huynh Nguyen, 22--were from Garden Grove. Three of the four were reportedly wearing seat belts.

Tuan Nguyen and Huynh Nguyen were sister and brother and came from a family of seven other siblings, family members said. Huynh, who assembled electronic parts, leaves a wife and two children. He is a graduate of Garden Grove High School, his father, Cho Nguyen said.

Tuan was a sophomore at Rancho Alamitos High School in Garden Grove, and, according to her father, loved sports, made good grades and wanted to pursue a career in computers.

On Thursday evening, they decided to join some friends from Huynh’s work on a trip to Las Vegas. Their father had no idea they’d be traveling so far.

“I told them to stay around here because driving during the holidays is very dangerous,” said Cho Nguyen, 53. “I don’t know what to do. My head is not clear. My children have been taken away from me.”

The carload of four survivors, ranging in age from 16 to 20, lived in Garden Grove, Midway City and Fountain Valley. They were unhurt, authorities said. Besides Tuan and Huynh Nguyen, none of the other victims or survivors are related, authorities said.

The crash occurred about 2:40 p.m. Friday four miles north of Baker as two Acuras were speeding side by side in excess of 100 mph, witnesses told police. As the sports cars traveled south on Interstate 15, a teal-colored Chevrolet pickup cut off the red Acura, which swerved into the black one “in an effort to avoid hitting the pickup,” CHP Sgt. Dale Cannon said.

The red Acura continued through the median into the northbound lanes and struck a Lincoln Continental head-on, Cannon said. Occupants of the Lincoln--a 32-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman from Bonsall and their dog--were also killed.

The accident left the red Acura and the Lincoln in a mangled heap, said Tom Mitchell, a tow truck driver who helped clear the scene. The red Acura landed with its driver’s side to the ground, and the front end of the Lincoln was crushed, Mitchell said.

“You couldn’t even tell what kind of cars they were,” Mitchell said.

Authorities said they did not find signs of alcohol in or around the vehicles and that toxicology tests will be conducted.

The occupants of the black Acura were questioned and were not cited, pending further investigation, police said. The driver of the teal pickup left the scene and is being sought.

CHP authorities said the crash occurred on a flat two-lane section of the freeway where motorists tend to speed.

“It’s a straight road and people race in that vicinity,” Cannon said. “If they’re not racing, then they’re in a hurry. And then lots of people fall asleep as they’re coming back from Vegas.”

The six fatalities were among the 34 statewide during the Thanksgiving holiday--from 6 p.m. Wednesday to 6 a.m. Saturday--compared to 28 during the same period last year, CHP Officer Ken Lane said. In Orange County, five auto-related deaths were reported during the same period, compared to four last year, Lane said.