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Tragedy rocked 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, died alongside his wife, Cristina, and children Ryder, 5, and Emma, 14. Three other people who died 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.
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NASCAR driver Greg Biffle (16) watches during the NASCAR Sylvania 300 auto race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon, New Hampshire, Sunday, September 25, 2011. (AP Photo/Cheryl Senter, File)
The deadly aviation incident was the latest to affect the world of sports.
American figure skaters
German pairs runner-up Mandy Wotzel (L) and Ingo Steuer (2nd L) with winners Evgenia Shishkova (front right) and Vadim Naumov greet fans at the NHK Trophy figure skating grand prize award ceremony in Nagoya, central Japan. (Reuters)
The U.S. figure skating community suffered a major blow in January 2025 when a U.S. Army helicopter collided with an American Airlines plane over the Potomac River. Six figure skaters associated with the Boston Skating Club died in the accident, 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/CQ-Roll Call Group Files via Getty Images)
Alan Kulwicki was a rising star in NASCAR. He won Rookie of the Year in 1986 and four years later took home the drivers’ championship over Bill Elliott. In April 1993, Kulwicki, two Hooters executives and the pilot of the plane they were traveling in crashed while approaching a landing in Tennessee. The NTSB said the pilot failed to clear ice from the engine inlet.
David Allison
Davey Allison emerged victorious with 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 piloting crashed on the infield of Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. The accident occurred in July 1993, just a few months after Kulwicki’s death. The NTSB attributed the accident to Allison’s inexperience as a pilot.
TRUMP REMEMBERES EX-NASCAR GREG BIFFLE AS ‘GREAT YOUNG MAN’ AFTER DEADLY PLANE CRASH
Payne Stewart
Payne Stewart of the USA checks the line of his putt during the US Open at Hazeltine National Golf Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota, in 1991. (David Cannon/All Sports)
Payne Stewart won the PGA Tour 11 times, 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 one of the best of all time. He was carrying 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 CONCERNING TEXT MESSAGES MOMENTS BEFORE THE PLANE CRASHED
Marshall Thundering Herd Football
Five first responders 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 and 21 reinforcements were also on board as the team returned home from a game against East Carolina.
Thurman Munson
New York Yankees star catcher Thurman Munson died 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 catcher for the New York Yankees. He won the American League Rookie of the Year award in 1970 and the MVP in 1976. He was named the team’s first captain since Lou Gehrig. He bought a plane so he could fly back to Ohio, his home, on his days off. He was practicing landings when he struck a tree on approach to Akron-Canton Regional Airport in 1979. Munson was paralyzed by the impact and asphyxiated in a fire that ensued.
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 saw one of the darkest and most unfathomable moments in sports. Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others were in a helicopter returning 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 martian
Rocky Marciano emerges victorious over Harry Matthews at Yankee Stadium. (New York Daily News Archive via Getty Images)
Rocky Marciano left the boxing world undefeated and 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 throws a pitch against the New York Mets on August 14, 2010 at Citi Field in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of 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 in the Gulf of Mexico. The NTSB said he was impaired by high levels of amphetamines and was attempting extreme aerobatics when he lost control of the plane.
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Cory Lidle
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 died in 2006 when the small plane he owned was blown by strong winds into a residential building in New York City.
