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Mike Stefanik celebrates victory at Bristol Motor Speedway on August 21, 2013, his final victory on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour (Photo: Getty Images for NASCAR)

Seven-time NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour champion and short track racing legend Mike Stefanik died Sunday following a plane crash in Sterling, CT.

Stefanik was 61 years old.

Stefanik, of Coventry, R.I., crashed while piloting a single engine, single seat Aero Ultra-Light plane. The crash took place near the Rhode Island border. The plane had taken off from RICONN Airport in Coventry, R.I.

“Mike Stefanik was one of the most successful drivers in NASCAR history, but even more so, he was a true representative of our sport,” NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. “His tough, competitive nature and excellence on the race track won him the respect and admiration of fans and competitors alike. His career stretched more than 30 years, bridging the generations between Jerry Cook and Richie Evans to our current drivers. He recorded achievements in this sport that are likely untouchable, and his legacy as a champion will endure. We will keep his wife Julie and his family and friends in our prayers.”

Stefanik last ran on the Whelen Modified Tour in 2014. He is the division’s all-time winningest driver with 74 career victories in 453 starts from 1985 to 2014. In addition to his seven Whelen Modified Tour titles (1989, ’91, ’97, ’98, 2001, ’02, ’06), Stefanik also won championships on the former Busch North Series (now K&N Pro Series East) in 1997 and 1998.

He ran one full-time season in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in 1999.

Stefanik was a 2018 inductee to the NEAR New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame. He was first nominated for the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.

Stefanik, a Wilbraham, Mass. native, got his start in racing at the former Riverside Park Speedway in Agawam, Mass.

Stefanik’s death comes nearly two years to the day since the death of one of his fiercest competitors in Modified racing, Ted Christopher, who was also killed in plane crash. Christopher was killed in a crash flying to Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway for a Whelen Modified Tour event on Sept. 16, 2017.

After walking away from racing Stefanik found a passion for flying and often flew his own Ultra-Light. Multiple sources have told RaceDayCT that the plane Stefanik was flying Sunday was not owned by him.

In October 2018 on a RaceDayCT Unmuffled Podcast, Stefanik talked about his passion for flying his Ultra-Light.

“I’m not one to sit on the porch and I do like a little bit of thrill,” Stefanik said. “I’m a little thrill seeker. … I can’t wipe the smile off my face every time I go fly that thing. I call it a flying lawn chair. But it’s actually a pretty cool little airplane.”

Also read: Mike Stefanik Found Passion In Flying After Quietly Walking Away From Racing

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