Two stars of professional car racing were killed on Oct. 16, not just Dan Wheldon but Rick Huseman. But Huseman, unlike Wheldon, didn’t die on a racetrack.
Off-road truck driver Huseman, 38, his brother Jeffrey, 26, and pilot Daniel Hicks, 35, were killed when their small plane crashed in the Mojave Desert in California.
According to the New York Daily News, their Beechcraft Bonanza single-engine propeller plane was traveling from Las Vegas to Corona, Calif. The aircraft radioed for help and then tried to make an emergency landing.
The plane crashed about 1:45 p.m. in an abandoned water park not far from Barstow-Daggett Airport, the News reported. That was almost exactly the time that Wheldon was declared dead at a Las Vegas hospital after he sustained fatal head injuries at a multi-car crash at a local raceway.
Huseman’s website posted a message about his passing.
“Tragically, Rick and his brother, Jeff, passed away October 16th in a plane crash,” the site said. “Please keep Michelle and the Huseman family in your prayers.”
http://www.rickhusemanracing.com/
There was also a message from Les Unger, National Motorsports Manager for Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., on Husedman’s website.
“The entire Toyota Motorsports and TRD family wish to express our condolences to the family of Rick Huseman in view of Sunday’s tragic event that claimed the lives of Rick, his brother, and the plane’s pilot,” Unger said. “Rick was an enthusiastic and extremely talented member of Toyota’s off-road racing program. He was a true champion both on and off the track.”
Federal safety investigators are probing the accident.