Info Request: Drivers Who Died of Non-Race, Unnatural Causes

[kart99]

Bottom post of the previous page:

David Leslie and Richard Lloyd both died in the same plane crash.

[FASTFREDDIE]

Tim Richmond recorded DOD is August 13, 1989, not in the early 90s

[FASTFREDDIE]

Christian Elder recorded cause of death is methadone overdose, not AIDS.

[theracer120]

Ray Elder, African-American NASCAR driver was shot and set on fire in his truck sometime during 1989. He raced in the 50's, 60's and the early 70's.

[Jesper Hvid]

Thanks for all the posts, I'll dedicate some time sometime soon to transfer these "items" to the LWF section of MMorg.

[brettcrashman]

these are kind of obvious ones so they may already have been posted but what about James Dean's car accident and Collin Mcrea's helicopter crash?

[Dave]

Ray Elder, African-American NASCAR driver was shot and set on fire in his truck sometime during 1989. He raced in the 50's, 60's and the early 70's.

??? Ray Elder is a.) Still alive as far as I know and b.) Caucasian

[Everso Biggyballies]

Ray Elder, African-American NASCAR driver was shot and set on fire in his truck sometime during 1989. He raced in the 50's, 60's and the early 70's.

??? Ray Elder is a.) Still alive as far as I know and b.) Caucasian

A quick bit of a look around suggests this was Native American (ie not Afro-American) William Leroy "Roy" Tyner (born January 3, 1934 - died February 23, 1989) aka 'The Flying Indian'. He raced from 1957 - 1970 as a driver before becoming an entrant.

Tyner's death in Feb 1989 was caused by a fatal gunshot to the head while he was in the show truck that was later set on fire. Local police ruled the death a suicide, but many believe foul play was involved. The case is still a mystery to this day.....

[PTRACER]

I thought you should know Jesper, Soames Langton passed away on April 19th 2011. He had an accident in a Porsche back in 1996/7 and was in a coma for a long time. When he came out of it, he was never the same, I don't think he was able to communicate or anything. Maybe one for Lest We Forget?

[Puhis]

Yes, he suffered from a condition where he wasn't able to move his muscles or limbs, only his eyes. A terrible fate for anyone to suffer, and especially such a talented young driver.

Here you can find a really good written tribute to Soames, though I must warn that the end, telling about his condition and inability to do pretty much anything is quite terrible.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Quite a moving tribute / obituary about Soames, written by a racing friend, which you can read on the following link:

Soames Langton 22nd August 1967 to 20th April 2011 RIP by John Brooks

Click here to see the Facebook page dedicated to Soames’ memory.

[Puhis]

Quite a moving tribute / obituary about Soames, written by a racing friend, which you can read on the following link:

Soames Langton 22nd August 1967 to 20th April 2011 RIP by John Brooks

I posted exactly the same link one post above.

[Everso Biggyballies]

Sorry I did not see the link.

[Andy]

Dieter Stappert, 13.10.1942-17.10.2008

Austrian Dieter Stappert started out as a journalist and chief editor to the German speaking motorsport mag Powerslide, the later Motorsport Aktuell.
As a team boss he led the brabham-bmw team that presented the first turbo f1 world champion in Nelson Piquet.
From 1985, Dieter Stappert lead the motorsport activities of the sponsor HB, where he started out in rallye sport with Audi and continued in the motorcycle world championship, mainly with Honda machinery. He worked with aces like Ralf Waldmann and Helmuth Bradl as well as Helmuths son Stefan, who leads the Moto2 (ex 250cc) world chamionship at the moment.

Dieter Stappert suffered a heart attack on June, 19th 2008 when he was checking in for the fly away to the Donington MotoGP races and felt into coma. Dieter never woke up from the coma and finally would die on October, 17th 2008


Also Colin McRae can be added in the plane/helicopter crash section

[Jesper Hvid]

I thought you should know Jesper, Soames Langton passed away on April 19th 2011. He had an accident in a Porsche back in 1996/7 and was in a coma for a long time. When he came out of it, he was never the same, I don't think he was able to communicate or anything. Maybe one for Lest We Forget?

It's added to the site as a motorsports related fatality, his case is a bit like Bruce Jacobi's.

[Jesper Hvid]

Theo Pilette and Paul Tavernier were killed in a 1921 road accident underway to a racing event at Brooklands (cancelled out of respect for the victims). This pic probably shows the aftermath. It appeared in an article about the Pilette racing family: http://www.velocetoday.com/one-family-1 ... of-racing/

*** Warning: fatal ***

http://www.velocetoday.com/wp-content/u ... 03-570.jpg

*** Warning: fatal ***

http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/LWFWI ... b=ct&n=407
http://www.motorsportmemorial.org/LWFWI ... 2=ms&n=408