Roper Passes Away UPDATE: #26 CTS driver, Tony Roper, is in critical condition at a Dallas hospital after suffering life-threatening injuries in a crash on the 33rd lap of Friday night’s O’Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. Roper was airlifted from the track to Parkland Hospital, where he is unconscious, unresponsive and breathing with the aid of a ventilator. According to speedway officials, Roper’s father, Dean, was at the race and has been summoned to the hospital. No other information is available on Roper, a 35-year-old from Fair Grove, Missouri. He and his wife, Michelle, have no children. Roper was involved in a crash with Steve Grissom, who had slowed his No. 43 Petty Enterprises Dodge after being tapped while running in a pack of three trucks. Roper tried to squeeze through a gap between Grissom and another truck and clipped the left-front of Grissom’s, veering hard into the wall in a nearly head-on crash. Roper had to be cut from the truck and after transported to the infield care center and then airlifted to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. According to a statement released by NASCAR, “Tony Roper, driver of the No. 26 Mittler Tool Ford, was airlifted to Parkland Hospital. He is listed in critical condition. He was unconscious and unresponsive when he was brought into the Lone Star Health infield care center. He is breathing with the assistance of a ventilator. His father, Dean, was in attendance and is also enroute to Parkland Hospital.”(SpeedVision and the AP and NASCAR), thoughts and prayers are with Tony and his family
UPDATE: From SpeedVision: At 11:00am/et Saturday, Roper was reported by the hospital as still in the emergency unit.
UPDATE 2: NASCAR announced that Truck series driver Tony Roper had died after a head-on accident during the O’Reilly 400 trucks race Friday night at Texas Motor Speedway. Roper had been on life-support(That’s Racin’) and from ESPN/AP: Tony Roper, a NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series driver, died late Saturday morning after sustaining severe neck injuries when his truck slammed into a wall during the O’Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway. It’s the first death at the Texas Motor Speedway. NASCAR Online just posted news: Roper dies of injuries incurred in O’Reilly 400 and another AP report at CNN/SI. The Tony Roper Site has a message board for fans to leave their thoughts and has info on a Memorial Fund(10-14-2000)