Mike Stefanik, a nine-time NASCAR champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee, died in a plane crash. (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images) Mike Stefanik, a nine-time NASCAR champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee, died Sunday in a plane crash, according to the stock-car racing organization. He was 61. According to Connecticut State Police, an Aerolite 103, single-engine, single-seat plane took off from Riconn Airport just over the state line in Rhode Island on Sunday. Police said the ultralight plane, while turning back toward the airfield, crashed into a wooded area adjacent to the airport in Sterling, Connecticut. NASCAR said it was Stefanik who died in the crash. “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 on the NASCAR website. “His tough, competitive nature and excellence on the race track won him the respect and admiration of fans and competitors alike. His career stretched more than 30 years, bridging the generations between Jerry Cook and Richie Evans to our current drivers. He recorded achievements in this sport that are likely untouchable, and his legacy as a champion will endure. We will keep his wife Julie and his family and friends in our prayers.” According to NASCAR, Stefanik was the winningest driver in the history of the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour. He won that circuit championship in 1989, 1991, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2002 and 2006. He also won the Busch North — now known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East — titles in 1997 and 1998.
We are saddened to hear the news about nine-time NASCAR Champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Mike Stefanik’s passing. NASCAR statement: pic.twitter.com/VqRBxBpB18
In a week where Bubba Wallace wore an "I Can't Breathe" T-shirt before an event and said racetracks shouldn't allow Confederate flags, the NASCAR driver will make another bold move Wednesday by racing a car with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme.
"I think by running this branding on our car, putting the hashtag out there, bringing more awareness to it, it lines up with the videos that we had put out as NASCAR," Wallace, the first full-time African American driver in the Cup Series since 1971, said. "Listening and learning. Educating ourselves. So people will look up what this hashtag means. And hopefully get a better understanding."
