Death

We're saddened to report the death of John G. Smale. Considered an outsider to the automotive industry upon his appointment, Smale served as chairman of General Motors from November 1992 to the end of 1995. A member of GM's board since 1982, Smale was named chairman at a difficult turning point ...

Bad news, it seems, does come in threes, as we're grieved to report the passing of Marco Simoncelli. The MotoGP rider succumbed to injuries sustained this weekend at the Malaysian Grand Prix, his death coming barely a week after those of Indy 500 champion Dan Wheldon and Baja racer Rick ...

Tragedy struck this weekend's Las Vegas Indy 300, as driver Dan Wheldon, 33, died from injuries sustained in a gruesome 15-car wreck just 13 laps into the race. Wheldon's car sailed through the air outside turn two and smashed into a wall. Yahoo! reports that the other drivers were told of ...

Talking about my dad just after the day of his death, I'm sort of forced to quote him. Right up to the last, he was "one tough summbitch" as he would say in praising anyone worth their salt. He saved that Burnside, Kentucky, inner country boy ...

Less than a week after 13-year-old Peter Lenz was killed in a crash at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, another motorcyclist's life has been claimed at the track. Shoya Tomizawa was on his 15th lap at the Misano circuit during the San Marino Grand Prix when he apparently lost control of his Moto2 ...

Sarah Goodner was killed in Texas in 2007 when her 2005 Hyundai Tucson rolled over and she was thrown out the back window. The culprit for that odd circumstance – even though she had her seat belt fastened – was her seat, which was reclined so far back that she was able to slide out ...

In a preliminary report, the Governors Highway Safety Association recently indicated a 10% drop in motorcycle related fatalities around the U.S. in 2009. This decline marks the first such improvement in over a decade as deaths have been on the rise consistently from 1997 onward. Are we really ...

On the day we've reviewed two descendants of his original creation, we find out that the man who designed the Mustang, Donald Frey, passed away at 86. As with the car's decades of success, the inspiration for it was unlikely: the Chevrolet Corvair. Frey, who was assistant general manager and ...

Concerned that "gadgets and bells and whistles" are distracting drivers, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood is reportedly pushing to keep the technologies out of driver's hands – without going so far as to say he'll try to restrict them. LaHood, who has already campaigned for a ban on ...

Anyone familiar with land speed trials knows all too well the dangers inherent in pursuing new record-breaking speeds, and today we're saddened to report on the death of one ...