UNITY – A sports photographer was in critical condition Monday with head and chest injuries after a race car crashed and landed on him Sunday while he was filming the action at Unity Raceway.

John Crawford, 38, of Fairfield was taking photographs and videotape footage from behind a chain-link fence when two cars in the race collided on the front stretch.

The outside car rode up on the right front tire of the inside car. The car became airborne, went off the track, hit a dirt embankment on turn one and continued up the embankment and through the fence.

Crawford was injured when the car crashed through the fence and came to rest on top of him, racetrack owner Ralph Nason told Waldo County sheriff’s Deputies Sgt. James Porter and Scott Jones.

An associate of Crawford, Kim Cameron, 40, of Benton, who was standing nearby, was also injured in the accident. She was taken by Unity Ambulance to the Thayer Unit of Mid-Maine Medical Center in Waterville. The hospital did not return a phone call Monday requesting an update on Cameron’s condition.

Nason said Crawford was filming in an area that was not open to spectators.

“It was just one of those strange, strange accidents,” Nason said Monday. “I’ve never seen a car go in that direction. They were turning left and they just went off in the opposite direction.”

Rescue personnel were notified of the accident at 3:45 p.m. Sunday. Crawford received emergency treatment at the scene by Unity Ambulance Service before being taken by LifeFlight helicopter to Eastern Maine Medical Center in Bangor.

Mark Dodge of Anson, the driver of the race car that struck Crawford, was taken by ambulance to Sebasticook Valley Hospital in Pittsfield. Dodge initially declined medical treatment, but the ambulance was called back when he reported feeling ill.

“He’s OK,” Nason said of Dodge. “He and Crawford were good buddies and he was quite upset.”

Crawford is the producer of Mainely Motorsports for area cable television stations and also formerly managed the track, Nason said.