Hundreds of mourners packed a church Wednesday to remember NASCAR driver Kenny Irwin, whose great passion in life also brought his death. Irwin, 30, crashed into a concrete wall and died of a crushed skull Friday while practicing for the New England 300 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H. The Rev. Peter Bosworth recounted a recent conversation with Irwin in which he said the driver told him, “You know what, I’d drive for free. I’d race for free. That’s my passion. That’s my passion.” “He died doing what he absolutely loved,” Bosworth said. At least 500 people attended the service at Abundant Life Church, spilling out of the sanctuary into a gymnasium to watch on closed-circuit television. Irwin’s casket was draped in red roses, with hundreds of floral arrangements on either side stretching across the front of the church and down two hallways(Infobeat/AP) and an AP story at ESPN: Irwin died ‘doing what he loved’(7-12-2000)
