{"id":361074,"date":"2025-12-22T05:22:33","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T05:22:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/361074\/"},"modified":"2025-12-22T05:22:33","modified_gmt":"2025-12-22T05:22:33","slug":"greg-biffle-former-nascar-driver-becomes-latest-athlete-to-be-killed-by-aviation-tragedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/361074\/","title":{"rendered":"Greg Biffle: Former NASCAR driver becomes latest athlete to be killed by aviation tragedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle<\/a>, his wife Cristina and his two children died after a small private jet crashed shortly after takeoff in North Carolina on Thursday, in a disaster which killed a total of seven people.\n <\/p>\n

\n Biffle, who is considered one of NASCAR\u2019s 75 greatest drivers<\/a> with 19 wins, was thought to be taking his family to visit creator and motorsports streamer Garrett Mitchell.\n <\/p>\n

\n Biffle was a licensed pilot, but it\u2019s not yet clear who was flying the aircraft. According to the Associated Press<\/a>, the Cessna C550 crashed while trying to return and land at the Statesville Regional Airport, where it had departed shortly before on Thursday morning.\n <\/p>\n

\n Dennis Dutton and his son Jack, as well as longtime NASCAR community member Craig Wadsworth, were identified as the other passengers, according to a joint statement from the families of those killed.\n <\/p>\n

\n The tragedy is the latest in a growing number of aviation disasters which have rocked the motorsports community over the years, as well as the world of professional sports as a whole.\n <\/p>\n

\n Davey Allison was another NASCAR driver who lost his life during an aviation crash in 1993.\n <\/p>\n

\"Davey<\/p>\n

\n The 1992 Daytona 500 winner and son of racing legend Bobby Allison was piloting a helicopter when it crashed at the Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to AP, a National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) report attributed the incident to the pilot\u2019s inexperience, with the moment shocking the entire motorsport community.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier in the same year, NASCAR\u2019s 1986 Rookie of the Year Alan Kulwicki had died after a small jet he was in crashed on approach to an airport in Tennessee.\n <\/p>\n

\"Alan<\/p>\n

\n Kulwicki died alongside three others, including two sponsorship executives and the pilot. According to AP, the NTSB ruled the pilot had failed to clear the engine inlet of ice.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Wisconsin native had previously won the 1992 driver\u2019s championship in dramatic style, beating Bill Elliott (who survived an aviation scare) in what was the closest title race in history.\n <\/p>\n

\n The motorsport world<\/a> has since numerous other aviation tragedies.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2004, 10 people connected to Hendrick Motorsports were killed<\/a> when a plane headed for Martinsville Speedway crashed into a mountain due to foggy conditions.\n <\/p>\n

\n Then in 2019, nine-time NASCAR champion and NASCAR Hall of Fame nominee Mike Stefanik died<\/a> in a plane crash.\n <\/p>\n

\"Mike<\/p>\n

\n According to Connecticut State Police, an Aerolite 103, single-engine, single-seat plane took off with Stefanik on board from Riconn Airport just over the state line in Rhode Island. Police say the ultralight plane, while turning back toward the airfield, crashed into a wooded area adjacent to the airport in Sterling, Connecticut.\n <\/p>\n

\n More recently, NBA legend Kobe Bryant and his 13-year-old daughter Gianna died in a helicopter crash<\/a> in 2020.\n <\/p>\n

\n The crash occurred about 30 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles and killed all nine people aboard.\n <\/p>\n

\"Kobe<\/p>\n

\n The passengers were heading from Orange County to the Mamba Sports Academy in Thousand Oaks for a youth basketball game in which Bryant was to coach and Gianna and two others aboard were to play.\n <\/p>\n

\n Bryant\u2019s death sparked an outpouring of emotional tributes, with his legacy<\/a> touching all four corners of the world.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2019, the soccer world was brought to a halt after the death<\/a> of Emiliano Sala.\n <\/p>\n

\n Sala and a pilot were traveling from France to Wales after Welsh club Cardiff City had agreed to sign the striker from French side Nantes. The soccer star had said farewell to his former teammates just before the plane crashed in the English Channel on January 21.\n <\/p>\n

\"Argentine<\/p>\n

\n Sala\u2019s body was recovered from the wreckage on February 6, 2019, after a private search for the missing player and the pilot was commissioned by his family.\n <\/p>\n

\n Pitcher Roy Halladay, who won two Cy Young Awards and more than 200 Major League Baseball games during a stellar career, died<\/a> in a plane crash off the Florida coast in 2017.\n <\/p>\n

\n Halladay, 40, was the only person on the two-seater plane that crashed just off New Port Richey on the Gulf coast north of the Tampa Bay area.\n <\/p>\n

\"Roy<\/p>\n

\n The single-engine plane, an Icon A5, crashed in very shallow water and was found upside down.\n <\/p>\n

\n Halladay had done several aerial maneuvers in his plane and had drugs in his system when he lost control and crashed, according to the NTSB<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n Halladay pitched parts of 16 seasons in the major leagues, the first 12 with the Toronto Blue Jays. He won the Cy Young for the Blue Jays in 2003, when he went 22-7 with a 3.25 ERA and led the American League with nine complete games. He was elected posthumously to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2019.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 1999, one of the world\u2019s most recognizable golfers died when his private plane lost cabin pressure, an incident which killed all four passengers and both pilots.\n <\/p>\n

\"Payne<\/p>\n

\n Stewart was a three-time major winner and was the reigning US Open<\/a> champion when he died.\n <\/p>\n

\n The plane eventually crashed in South Dakota but had been flying on auto-pilot for a while with everyone on board either unconscious or already dead, according to AP.\n <\/p>\n

\n Stewart was 42 at the time, but his legacy still lives on through an annual award<\/a> presented by the PGA Tour<\/a> to a golfer who shows the former champion\u2019s spirit.\n <\/p>\n

\n On New Year\u2019s Eve in 1972, Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Roberto Clemente died after a plane crashed on takeoff from Puerto Rico.\n <\/p>\n

\n Clemente was bringing emergency aid to Nicaragua after an earthquake had hit the country.\n <\/p>\n

\"Roberto<\/p>\n

\n The Baseball Hall of Famer led the Pirates to two World Series titles during an illustrious career, where he was named a 15-time All-Star and the 1966 NL MVP.\n <\/p>\n

\n According to AP, the plane Clemente was on was poorly maintained and overloaded.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 1958, a disaster<\/a> rocked arguably the most famous club in world soccer, Manchester United.\n <\/p>\n

\n The squad \u2013 dubbed the \u201cBusby Babes\u201d \u2013 was the back-to-back English champion and well positioned for a hat-trick of titles.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n But after United returned home from knocking Red Star Belgrade out of the European Cup, the team\u2019s plane crashed on its third attempt to take off after re-fueling in Germany.\n <\/p>\n

\n A total of 23 people were killed in the crash, including eight Manchester United players.\n <\/p>\n

\n The Red Devils went on to rebuild the team, led by survivors including manager Matt Busby and club legend Bobby Charlton<\/a>. The tragedy is still remembered every year on February 6.\n <\/p>\n

\n Brazilian soccer team Chapecoense<\/a> also suffered a tragedy in 2016 after a plane carrying the team crashed.\n <\/p>\n

\n Players, coaches and invited guests from the team were on board the charter flight, when it crashed in Rionegro, near Medell\u00edn. Seventy-one people were killed and six survived.\n <\/p>\n

\"Brazil's<\/p>\n

\n Among the victims were around 20 journalists on the way to cover what was supposed to be a heartwarming chapter in a Cinderella story for a team of unlikely champions. The soccer club, which had risen the ranks in Brazilian soccer and has a devoted national fanbase, was set to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana finals.\n <\/p>\n

\n Hundreds of heartbroken fans gathered at Arena Conda in the team\u2019s hometown of Chapeco, Brazil, to mourn their loss.\n <\/p>\n

\n Earlier this year, several members<\/a> of US Figure Skating were killed in midair collision between an American Airlines passenger jet and a Black Hawk military helicopter.\n <\/p>\n

\n No one survived the incident and a total of 28 members<\/a> of the US figure skating community were killed, including a married pair of skating champions, two young skaters and their mothers.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n The multigenerational loss evoked painful memories of the 1961 plane crash that killed 73 people \u2013 including all 18 members of the US figure skating team<\/a> headed to the world figure skating championships in Prague, Czechoslovakia. That disaster killed not just elite athletes but also their coaches, leaving seismic voids in US figure skating for generations to come.\n <\/p>\n

\n In November 1970, a chartered Southern Airways plane crashed<\/a> while trying to land in West Virginia.\n <\/p>\n

\n The crash killed all 75 people on board, including the Marshall University football team and its coaching staff.\n <\/p>\n

\n In 2006, a film called We Are Marshall depicted how the team rebuilt itself following the tragedy which shocked the US.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former NASCAR driver Greg Biffle, his wife Cristina and his two children died after a small private jet…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":361075,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-361074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361074","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=361074"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/361074\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/361075"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=361074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=361074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=361074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}