A race car racer was killed when the skid loader he was operating slid into a drainage ditch, and became submerged.

The freak incident was reported at 1:40 p.m. Wednesday near 2900 block of 440th Street, in rural Clarkfield, Yellow Medicine County, with a 911 caller reporting the 51-year-old was trapped in the vehicle.

Responders arrived to find the skid loader on its side, "fully submerged in a drainage ditch," the Yellow Medicine County Sheriff's Office said, with the driver pronounced dead at the scene.

The victim has been identified as Dustin Virkus, 51, of Clarkfield.

Tribute has been paid by Wissota Auto Racing, a dirt track league that stages races across Minnesota, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, Manitoba and Ontario.

"Wissota is saddened to learn of the passi

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