Husband of NASCAR vice president feared dead in Fla. plane crash
July 10, 2007
BY MARK DeCOTIS
FLORIDA TODAY
The husband of Lesa France Kennedy, the NASCAR vice president and International Speedway Corp. president, was among five people thought to have been killed Tuesday morning in the crash of a private plane in Sanford, Fla., the Daytona Beach (Fla.) News-Journal is reporting.
Dr. Bruce Kennedy, an Ormond Beach, Fla., plastic surgeon, died along with the co-pilot of a twin-engine Cessna 310 that crashed into a home, setting a house next door ablaze as well.
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Four people two adults, a 10-year-old boy and a 4-year-old girl were in the home initially hit, authorities said. The adults and the boy were critically injured and the girl has not yet been accounted for, the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel is reporting.
Kennedys death was the second to strike the Frances, NASCARs founding family, in three weeks.
Bill France Jr., eldest son of NASCAR founder Bill France Sr. and himself a former NASCAR president and chairman, died June 25 at age 74. Frances son and Lesa France Kennedys brother Brian France is chairman and chief executive of NASCAR.
The Kennedys have one child, a son Benjamin, according to the NASCAR media guide.
Spokesmen for NASCAR and Daytona International Speedway, one of 12 tracks owned by ISC, a sister company of NASCAR, said a statement was being prepared.
The plane was registered to Competitor Liaison Bureau Inc. of Daytona Beach and was bound for Lakeland, Fla. It departed from Daytona Beach International Airport at 8:23 a.m.
The pilot reported smoke in the cockpit and was directed to land at Orlando-Sanford International Airport when it crashed into the homes on Willowbay Ridge Court in the Preserve at Lake Monroe, Fla., a subdivision of new two-story, single-family homes in Seminole County. The subdivision is north of the airport.