Plane Owned by Nascar Racing Team Crashes, Killing 10

MARTINSVILLE, Va. – A plane owned by the Hendrick Motorsports organization crashed yesterday on its way to a Nascar race, killing all 10 people aboard, including the son, brother, and two nieces of the owner of one of auto racing’s most successful teams.The Beech 200 took off from Concord, N.C., and crashed in the Bull Mountain area about seven miles west of Martinsville’s Blue Ridge Regional Airport at about 12:30 p.m., said a spokeswoman for the Federal Aviation Administration, Arlene Murray.A spokesman for a funeral home where the bodies were being taken said the dead included the four relatives of Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. The weather in the area was overcast at the time of the crash, according to Jan Jackson of the National Weather Service in Blacksburg.NTSB spokesman Keith Holloway said investigators were on their way to the crash site, which was in rough terrain, but could not begin their examination until today.Hendrick owns the teams of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte, and Brian Vickers, who competed in yesterday’s Subway 500 in the Nextel Cup Series at Martinsville Speedway.Nascar learned of the plane’s disappearance during the race but withheld the information from the Hendrick drivers until afterward, Nascar spokesman Jim Hunter said. All the Hendrick drivers were summoned to the Nascar hauler immediately after the race and Johnson, who won the race, was excused from Victory Lane.Hendrick had been on a season-long celebration of its 20th anniversary in Nascar’s top series. The organization has won five of the series’ top titles, three truck series titles, and one Busch series crown.Citing a list given to him by state po lice, Harry Litten, manager of Moody Funeral Service in Stuart, said the people aboard the plane were:Ricky Hendrick, Rick Hendrick’s son and a retired Nascar driver; John Hendrick, Rick Hendrick’s brother and president of the organization; Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick, John Hendrick’s twin daughters; Joe Jackson; Jeff Turner; Randy Dorton, the team’s chief engine builder; Scott Latham, a pilot for Nascar driver Tony Stewart, and pilots DickTracy and Liz Morrison.Rick Hendrick had recently begun grooming Ricky Hendrick for a larger role with the company.Ricky began his career driving a Busch car for his father, but retired in 2002 because of a shoulder injury suffered in a racing accident. His father then made him the owner of the Busch car Mr. Vickers drove to the series championship last season, and that Kyle Busch currently pilots.

Plane Owned by Nascar Racing Team Crashes, Killing 10

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