‘Taken from us way too soon.’ Town mourns 22-year-old drag racer killed on NC track
A 22-year-old drag racer who was killed on March 19 in a crash on a North Carolina drag strip is being honored by the racing community.
Lucas McKinney from Elizabethton, Tennessee, was driving a timed trial at the Farmington Dragway in Mocksville when he lost control of the vehicle while slowing down, the fire department told FOX8. The crash happened between 3 and 3:30 p.m and McKinney died from his injuries, the media outlet reported.
McKinney was an experienced racer and had won the High School Challenge at Bristol Dragway in 2018 and was a finalist in the DER Series Pro class race in 2020, according to FOX8.
His parents, Todd and Amy McKinney, were racers, too, according to the Johnson City Press.
“Lucas lost his life in an on-track accident on March 19th, doing what he loved at Farmington Dragway in North Carolina,” McKinney’s friend Philip Carpenter wrote on GoFundMe. “On behalf of all of our racing friends we have decided to do this to assist with funeral expenses for his family and to show how much the racing community cares about this young man who was taken from us way too soon.”
“My prayers are with Amy and Todd. Nothing can be said to ease their pain,” Red Whitmore, the owner of DER Racing Series, said wrote on Facebook. “We will miss seeing Lucas at the track but I know he will be with each of us this season.”
The racing continued on the weekend of McKinney’s death, racing in memory of him, Rodney Finchum said on Facebook.
“My hats off to the McKinney family, we lost a dear friend this weekend,” Finchum said in a video. “That young man was well deserving of everything he’d ever got.”
When McKinney wasn’t drag or slot car racing, he liked to fish, his GoFundMe page said.
“I’ve personally known him for years and he had a heart of gold,” Carpenter wrote.
“Lucas is going to be missed,” Whitmore told Johnson City Press. “He comes from a good family of racers who have raced with us since I started DER 14 years ago. Our condolences also go out to his slot-car family. He loved racing and loved being competitive.”
This story was originally published March 21, 2022 at 11:46 AM with the headline "‘Taken from us way too soon.’ Town mourns 22-year-old drag racer killed on NC track."
