RACINE - Paul Chaffee didn't expect he'd get his one in a million on a dark road somewhere outside of Bloomington, Ill.

The truck, hauling the Racine Scouts Drum and Bugle Corps' 28-foot trailer filled with musical instruments, hit a patch of black ice.

"I now have experienced a one in a million; I don't like it," Chaffee said. "Normally, the one in a million and you win the lottery. No, my one in a million, my trailer is on its side in the state of Illinois."

The Scouts' trailer flipped sometime after midnight on a trip to Denton, Texas. Four staff members and two drivers from the Drum and Bugle Corps were on their way to Texas for a recruiting trip in February.

Chaffee, the Scouts executive director, got a call. No one was injured, he was told. No Scouts were on the trip.

"I still don't have a good answer for how that trailer flipped," Chaffee said. "The trailer is trashed."

Drum heads were busted and horns took a beating, Chaffee said. Timpanis, a marimba and a vibraphone were damaged in the accident, too. The trailer was refitted with two new tires and rims and a new trailer hitch assembly and continued on to Texas. The equipment truck was on its way to Texas for a corps camp.

It was one of several trips the Corps staff is making this year to drum up interest in the group. The staff made a return trip this weekend. In April, Scouts from Racine will travel to Texas.

The Scouts are now trying to raise money to help defray some of the cost of the damages and to help replace the trailer. The Scouts usually raise money by hosting bingo at the Flatiron Village Mall, 1661 Douglas Ave. The next bingo event is Sunday. The doors open at 3:30 p.m. The bingo starts at 6 p.m.

An insurance company is still counting the damages and Chaffee expects a big number when he finally gets a total. It is likely that the trailer will be deemed a total loss due to the amount of structural damage to the frame.

By all accounts, it was a freak incident, according to everyone who responded, Chaffee said. He said it's certainly the strangest thing he can recall happening in the Scouts' 80-year history.