Yes, there was a passenger. This car was not actually racing. He was doing "High Speed Touring". Kind of like track day for street cars. They do HST in between actual races.
I race a Legends car and sometimes I instruct at Hallett. It's a pretty technical road course, 1.8 miles per lap.
This driver obviously got in over his head with too much power.
Rarely do we see many acidents in HST but when we do, it's usually with high powered cars in the hands of inexperienced drivers.
WARNING TO NEW COBRA DRIVERS ON THE TRACK. Learn the racing line before going fast! We had a girl with a 6 month old Viper wreck her car last year. The more power you have, the quicker you can get into trouble.
Instructors are always more nervous riding shot gun in a high powered car with a newby.