Hendrick Motorsports plane crashes, police say

05:09 PM EDT on Sunday, October 24, 2004

By DANIELLE SCHULMAN / WCNC.com

A plane has crashed in Patrick County, Virginia, state police there confirm. A 6NEWS source says the plane belongs to Henrick Motorsports.

Several high-placed sources inside NASCAR confirm these passengers on the plane: Tony Stewart’s helicopter pilot (who was not piloting the plane), two people who were piloting the plane, John Hendrick (Rick Hendrick’s brother), Ricky Hendrick, Randy Dorton and his two daughters.


What a tragedy :(
I feel so bad for the Hendrick motorsports teanm and family members :(

That is a great loss for the Hendrick family and organization. I think eventually you would have seen Ricky take over from his father. John ran the operation during Rick's recovery from leukemia.

I wonder why their approach was waved off?

Being at the shops last week is always a big deal for me. I imagine for the next while the atmosphere will be quite sombre.

Here's the report from That'sRacin.com:

Hendrick plane goes down
close to Martinsville track

John Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick, Randy Dorton among those on board

By JIM UTTER

ThatsRacin.com Writer


A Hendrick Motorsports plane carrying two pilots and eight other passengers crashed into Bull Mountain, about 10 miles west of Martinsville, Va., site of Sunday's Subway 500 NASCAR Nextel Cup race, the FAA confirmed.
FAA spokeswoman Arlene Murray said a Beechcraft airplane owned by Hendrick left Concord (N.C.) Regional Airport and crashed about 12:30 p.m. Eastern time Sunday, near Martinsville Speedway.

There was no confirmation on injuries or fatalities, Murray said.

NBC 6 News TV in Charlotte, N.C., reported Sunday afternoon that John Hendrick, Ricky Hendrick and engine builder Randy Dorton were on the airplane. John Hendrick is team owner Rick Hendrick's brother, while Ricky Hendrick is his son. Dorton was the organization's chief engine builder.

The TV station also reported that a Virginia funeral home had been told to expect 10 bodies.

Names given by the funeral home were those of Ricky Hendrick, John Hendrick, Kimberley Hendrick, Jennifer Hendrick, Dick Tracy, Joe Jackson, Liz Morrison, Jeff Turner, Randy Dorton and Scott Lathum.

"The plane was en route to Martinsville and they lost it on radar and that's all the information we have," said NASCAR's Jim Hunter. "We've been in contact with Rick Hendrick...we just don't have a lot of details at the moment. We are going to say a prayer for everyone in the Hendick organization."

HMS had four teams competing in Sunday's race with drivers Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Terry Labonte and Brian Vickers.

In 20 years of competition, Hendrick Motorsports has garnered five NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now Nextel Cup) championships, three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series titles and one NASCAR Busch Series crown, making it one of stock-car racing’s premier organizations.

Rick Hendrick is just the second team owner in NASCAR’s modern era to earn more than 100 Cup Series victories.

More than 400 employees call Hendrick Motorsports home, and day-to-day activities include management of HendrickMotorsports.com, the 15,000-square-foot museum and team store, marketing, public relations, sponsor services, licensing, show cars, merchandising, and much more.

Ricky Hendrick owned Brian Vickers race team.

Today is Brian Vickers birthday

godspeed hendrick motorsports

Thats too bad, i cant imagine losing all those family members and friends all at once. :confused:

What a year for the Hendrick family, Papa Joe died this year also.

Ricky was being basically guided to take over. Such a tragedy!!

:( :(

I was just awe-struck with this information after the race today. I used to sell Haas CNC machines in the Carolinas, and Haas sponsors the Hendrick Team by giving them 19 (about 3 million bucks worth) CNC machines every couple of years. In exchange, we got to use Hendrick's for a showroom (I lived 5 miles from the shop) and took customers there all of the time.

I got to meat John , Rick Sr. and Rick Jr. this spring at a cancer research golf outing in Charlotte early this summer. Just suprising to hear after all the tragity in their life this year. Pops just passed in July. Imagine loosing your dad, your brother, and your oldest son in the matter of 3 months. people might have their own opinion on #24 and all that, but these guys are the best at what they do.

Heck, I used to go to bike nite with several of the guys from Hendrick (and allot of others who worked for all the cup teams around Concord, NC) and Randy Dorton was one of them. Heck, the Hendricks engine shop just got done building a set of heads for my Road King. I belive that Randy just won the engine assembly contest this summer where they are timed putting engines together in record times.

May there be a quick recovery and some relief for all of the great people who have had their life's effected by this.

wow, i heard of the plane crash just after the race had ended and it will take some time for all of the nascar and racing comunity to get over this one. My prayers go out to all. what a loss.

Life is a race, we just dont know where the finish line is

I've never met any of those involved in my visits to their complex, but have been following the team since Geoff Bodine raced the Levi Garrett Monte. I've probably been more familiar w/ Randy Dorton. After Waddell Wilson went to build Ford motors, Randy became the most written about Chevy engine builder. Every couple of years they'd talk to Randy about what the Cup teams were up to w/ engine developments.

Sad, but it seems like such a common thing in motorsport for people to die in private aircraft. The list is long: Davey allison, Alan Kulwicki, Graham Hill, Carlos Pace and Tony Bettenhausen to name a few. Not to mention David Coulthard who walked out of the fuselage of a plane crash that killed both pilots a few years ago. With the fast pace of motorsport and the ever demanding schedule this type of thing will keep happening.

I also think Curtis Turner was killed in a plane crash back in the 60s. He was a real hellraiser I guess, so I guess that's why NASCAR hasn't mentioned his name.

I wouldn't be a bit surprised that in the future, teams won't allow as many key members of their organizations to fly together. I think a lot of corporations already have this rule in effect.