NEWYou can now listen to Pakinomist articles!
Tragedy struck the NASCAR world Thursday when a plane carrying former racing star Greg Biffle, members of his family and others crashed in North Carolina.
The plane was returning to Statesville Regional Airport about 10 minutes after takeoff for an “emergency landing.” Biffle, 55, was killed along with his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14. Three others killed on board were identified as Dennis Dutton, his son Jack and Craig Wadsworth.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) was still investigating the cause of the accident.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON Pakinomist
NASCAR driver Greg Biffle (16) watches during the NASCAR Sylvania 300 auto race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, Sunday, Sept. 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter, File)
The fatal aviation incident was the latest to hit the world of sports.
American figure skaters
Germany’s pairs runners-up Mandy Wotzel (L) and Ingo Steuer (2nd L) with winners Evgenia Shishkova (front right) and Vadim Naumov wave to fans at the awarding ceremony of the NHK Trophy figure skating grand prix in Nagoya, central Japan. (Reuters)
The American figure skating community was hit hard in January 2025 when a US Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane over the Potomac River. Six figure skaters affiliated with the Skating Club of Boston died in the crash, including Jinna Han and Spencer Lane, two coaches, Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova, and Jin Han, Jinna’s mother, and Christine Lane, Spencer’s mother.
Alan Kulwicki
Alan Kulwicki died in a plane crash in 1993. (ISC Archives/CQ-Roll Call Group via Getty Images)
Alan Kulwicki was a rising star in NASCAR. He won the 1986 Rookie of the Year and four years later took home the drivers’ championship over Bill Elliott. In April 1993, Kulwicki, two Hooters executives and the pilot of the jet they were on crashed on approach to land in Tennessee. The NTSB said the pilot failed to clear the engine intake of ice.
Davey Allison
Davey Allison won the trophy after winning a race at Daytona International Speedway on February 16, 1992. (George Tiedemann/Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
Davey Allison, son of legendary NASCAR driver Bobby Allison, was a rising star in NASCAR when the helicopter he was flying crashed into the infield at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The crash happened in July 1993 – just a few months after Kulwicki died. The NTSB blamed the crash on Allison’s inexperience as a pilot.
TRUMP REMEMBERS EX-NASCAR GREG BIFFLE AS ‘FRESH YOUNG MAN’ AFTER DEADLY PLANE CRASH
Payne Stewart
Payne Stewart of the United States checks the line of her putt during the US Open at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1991. (David Cannon/Allsport)
Payne Stewart was an 11-time PGA Tour winner who had won the US Open twice and the PGA Championship once during his golf career. He died in 1999 when his private plane lost cabin pressure, killing all four passengers and both pilots. The plane continued on autopilot until it ran out of fuel and crashed in a field in South Dakota.
Roberto Clemente
Roberto Clemente, of the Pittsburgh Pirates, before the opening game of the National League playoffs on October 7, 1971. (Getty Images)
Roberto Clemente played 18 years in the majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates and won two World Series championships. But his humanitarian efforts are what took him from a great player to an all-around great. He was bringing emergency supplies to survivors of an earthquake in Nicaragua when the overloaded plane crashed on takeoff from Puerto Rico on New Year’s Eve 1972.
GREG BIFFLE’S WIFE SENT A TERRIBLE TEXT MESSAGE MOMENTS BEFORE THE PLANE CRASHED
Marshall Thundering Herd football
Five rescue workers search the wreckage of a plane crash in Huntington, West Virginia. The plane was carrying the entire Marshall University football team and all passengers were killed. (Getty Images)
Nearly 40 members of the Marshall Thundering Herd football team were among the 75 killed when Southern Airways Flight 932 crashed into a hill in West Virginia in 1970. Five coaches, seven staff members and 21 boosters were also on board as the team was returning from a game against East Carolina.
Thurman Munson
New York Yankees star catcher Thurman Munson was killed on August 2, 1979 in a crash of his private plane near Canton, Ohio. (Getty Images)
Thurman Munson was on his way to becoming the next great New York Yankees catcher. He won the 1970 American League Rookie of the Year and MVP in 1976. He was named the team’s first captain since Lou Gehrig. He bought a plane so he could fly it back to Ohio, his home, on his days off. He was practicing landings when he clipped a tree on the approach to Akron-Canton-Regional Airport in 1979. Munson was paralyzed on impact and suffocated in an ensuing fire.
Kobe Bryant
In this June 7, 2009 file photo, Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant (24) points to a player behind him after making a basket in the final seconds against the Orlando Magic in Game 2 of the NBA basketball finals in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill, File)
January 2020 had one of the darkest and most unfathomable moments in sports. Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were on a helicopter flying back from a basketball tournament in California when the plane crashed outside Los Angeles. The NTSB blamed the pilot for the cause of the crash.
Rocky Marciano
Rocky Marciano wins over Harry Matthews at Yankee Stadium. (NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Rocky Marciano left the world of boxing undefeated and a champion when he decided to retire from the sport in 1956. He died in August 1969 when an inexperienced pilot crashed into a tree in bad weather three miles from an Iowa airfield.
Roy Halladay
Roy Halladay #34 of the Philadelphia Phillies delivers a pitch against the New York Mets on August 14, 2010 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of Queens, New York City. (Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
Roy Halladay was one of baseball’s legendary pitchers, playing for the Toronto Blue Jays and the Philadelphia Phillies. He is one of the few pitchers to throw a no-hitter in the postseason. In 2019, Halladay crashed a sport plane he had purchased into the Gulf of Mexico. The NTSB said he was impaired by high levels of amphetamines and was attempting extreme aerobatic stunts when he lost control of the plane.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE Pakinomist APP
Cory Liddle
Cory Lidle #30 of the New York Yankees is surrounded by teammates in the bottom of the fifth inning against the Detroit Tigers during game four of the 2006 American League Division Series on October 7, 2006 at Comerica Park in Detroit, Michigan. (Elsa/Getty Images)
New York Yankees pitcher Cory Lidle was killed in 2006 when the small plane he owned was blown by high winds into an apartment building in New York City.
