Plane Crash Claims Life of Legendary NASCAR Modified Driver

STERLING, CT — Legendary race car driver Mike Stefanik, who launched his career by winning the Stafford Motor Speedway Modified series championship in 1986 before embarking on a highly-successful run on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, was killed Sunday afternoon in a plane crash. He was 61.

Stefanik was piloting an Aerolite 103, single-engine, single-seat ultralight aircraft, and had taken off from RICONN Airport in Coventry, R.I. before crashing into a wooded area just over the Connecticut line, state police said.

Stefanik had been turning the aircraft back toward the airfield at the time of the crash, police said.

In his three-decade career, Stefanik won 74 times on the Modified circuit, including 13 in 1998. He won the Whelen Modified tour championship a record seven times, and has been nominated six times for the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

"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. "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."

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