ThatsRacin.com | 10/24/2004 | Ten confirmed dead in Hendrick Motorsports team plane crash: "Ten confirmed dead in Hendrick Motorsports team plane crash
By JIM UTTER KYTJA WEIR AND BINYAMIN APPELBAUM
ThatsRacin.com and The Charlotte Observer
A Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying two pilots and eight other passengers crashed into a mountain Sunday afternoon en route to the Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race in Virginia.
Ten people were confirmed dead, including four relatives of Hendrick Motorsports CEO Rick Hendrick: His son Ricky Hendrick, his brother John Hendrick, and John's twin daughters Jennifer and Kimberly. John, 53, was the president of Hendrick Motorsports. Ricky owned a Busch Series NASCAR team and ran Performance Honda of Pineville, a motorcycle dealership.
Also killed in the crash were five Hendrick Motorsports employees: General Manager Jeff Turner, Randy Dorton, the chief of the company's engine program, engineer Scott Latham and company pilots Dick Tracey and Liz Morrison. The 10th victim was Joe Jackson, an executive with DuPont, which sponsored Jeff Gordon's Hendrick Motorsports car.
The plane had left the Concord Regional Airport, where the company has a hangar, and was headed to the Martinsville, Va., airport for the race where four of the company's teams were competing.
The plane crashed into Bull Mountain, about 10 miles west of the airport, shortly after 12:30 p.m., FAA officials said.
Emergency teams in Patrick County, Va., responded, but the plane appeared to have crashed in a remote area, said Keith Holloway, a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman. Holloway estimated that federal officials wouldn't be able to reach the crash site until Monday morning.
It remains unclear what caused the crash of the Beech 200 King Air plane, he said."
Thanks for the immediate update. From anyone's point of view, this is a complete and utter tragedy. That so many lives in one family would be snuffed out at once and especially two of them very young. Perhaps it is our imagination, but NASCAR people seem to have these sudden and catastrophic disasters (or near misses) almost annually, and often in transit to and from racing events. However, it is true that in the world of flying, privately owned small aircraft are the size and type most frequently involved in fatal accidents. It seems ironic that with all of the on-track probabilities for accidents, drivers and others in racing fall victim to off-track mishaps. We can only offer a quiet prayer for the families and friends for whom this is a very personal and grievous loss. J&D
ReplyDelete