According to reports from the scene, TOBC Racing owner and racer Jon Couch crashed his high-performance propeller plane at VIR late this afternoon today after buzzing the registration building while doing barrel rolls at relatively low altitude. A local news website reported that one person was dead at the scene and one was transported to a hospital.
According to the WDBJ Channel 7 News website, the plane crashed “in the center of the Patriot course” and firefighters were on the scene trying to put out flames from the crash.
“He buzzed the registration line and disappeared over the trees and then we heard a thud and there was smoke and flames,” said an eyewitness to the crash who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to speak for the racetrack. “The track will come out with whatever statement they want to make.”
The plane can be seen doing barrel rolls and trailing smoke before disappearing over the treeline in a short video posted on Facebook by racer Kat Zimpel.
The track has been closed and the TOBC trucks and crew pulled out of line and drove away. They may be headed back to team headquarters in Jonesville, North Carolina.
A call to team manager Scott Harwell’s cell phone was not returned at post time.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
The track is scheduled to host a CCS event this weekend. Couch, age 46, holds CCS, WERA and AMA Pro licenses and raced his Suzuki GSX-R1000 Superbike in the AMA Pro event held at New Jersey Motorsports Park last weekend.
He attracted attention by sponsoring, supporting, fielding and helping both up-and-coming riders and seasoned veterans in various ways. Riders who have ridden for TOBC at one time or another include 2014 AMA Pro Supersport Champion Hayden Gillim, Taylor Knapp, Harwell, Curtis Murray, Chris Crosslin, Darrell Emerson, Nick McFadden, Kaleb De Keyrel, Palmer Kling, Seth Starnes, Russ Masecar, Brian Kcraget, Elena Myers and others.
This just in: WSLS Channel 10’s website has reported that state police are at the scene, adding “Police say the pilot and a passenger are both dead.”