NASCAR legend Mike Stefanik dies in plane crash at age 61, seen walking from wreckage before succumbing to injuries
Custom stock car legend Michael Stefanik has died in a single-engine plane crash along the Rhode Island-Connecticut border at the age of 61. While the exact cause is still under investigation, the crash took place on Sunday afternoon in Sterling near the Rhode Island state line, according to Connecticut State Police.
The single-engine, single-seat Aerolite 103 had taken off from Riconn Airport in Coventry, Rhode Island, and was returning toward the airstrip when it crashed into a woody area nearby, police said.
Stefanik was killed in the accident, NASCAR confirmed later on.
Speaking to Providence's NBC affiliate, Allen Sayles, who lives near the airport, said his grandson and the boy's father witnessed Stefanik walking away from the crash just moments before he succumbed to his injuries. "They said he was walking and he was talking," said Sayles. "He was out of the plane he was like 15 feet from the plane."
The nearby resident described how the tragedy unfolded.
"We heard the plane coming, which we see all the time, then all of a sudden he just missed the treetops and my wife said, 'That plane is going to crash,'" he recalled. "I says, 'No, you just can't see it over the treetops,' and then we seen big powerful smoke and my grandson and his father went running down there."
"Four to five seconds later, we heard a big explosion and I called 911," he added.
According to Sayles, he had seen the plane on multiple occasions.
"We see it a lot," said Sayles. "He comes up and goes around a couple times and tests it, I think. It was one of those little hand glider one-person planes, fiber wings."
Stefanik was a NASCAR legend, to say the least. He won nine series championships to tie Hall of Famer Richie Evans for the record, finishing the Whelen Modified Tour on the top position seven times and twice winning the Busch North Series.
Furthermore, he also raced in the NASCAR Xfinity and Gander Outdoors Truck Series, winning the rookie of the year honor in the truck series back in 1999 when he was 41.
"Mike Stefanik was one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history, but even more so, he was a true representative of our sport," NASCAR Chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. "His tough, competitive nature and excellence on the race track won him the admiration of fans and competitors alike."
Stefanik also holds the Whelen Modified Tour record with 74 victories from 1985 to 2014. Besides, the veteran racer had 12 victories in the Busch Borth Series and was a six-time nominee for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.