Damn.... 2 racers die in plane crash...

RIP riders.

Facebook shows a pic of them buying plane on sat, then crashed today.

Ted Rich and Elaine Carpenter

 

Damn, Two Up Ted. Sad news

 

http://www.roadracingworld.com/news...nd-ted-rich-die-after-crash-of-small-biplane/

 

Prayers for all... Sad...

 

Rip racers

 

RIP, at least they were engaging in a hobby they both loved

 

Wow.

 

RIP

 

God Speed... sad day for the Southwest racing community...

 

Rip racers.

Peace to their loved ones during these hard times.

 

RIP racers

 

RIP

 

RIP

 

RIP racers

 

RIP

 

Damn two-up Ted, that guy was famous!

 

I was shocked and saddened when my riding buddy shared this terrible news this morning.

While vacationing in Palm Springs last March, we rented a pair of the infamous tiger-striped bikes from Ted for a couple days at Chuckwalla.
He brought the bikes up from PHX, Elaine flew in and hung out with us.
It was a special and unforgettable 2 days we spent with them, they were wonderful hosts to a couple of Chuckwalla noobs. I felt honored to have met them both.

An interesting "Good Cop/Bad Cop" couple:

Ted was kinda gruff, but friendly and helpful once rapport was established.

Elaine was just plain awesome; upbeat, kind, and observant. Fast as shit, too.
She gave me a simple riding tip (unsolicited-just followed us for a bit with a camera), that made a BIG improvement in my body position.

I'd hoped our paths would cross again sometime.
Sadly, that will not happen - at least in this lifetime.

Godspeed, Ted Rich and Elaine Carpenter.
You will be missed.

 

Hit the nail on the head there.
Ted put on the first trackday I ever did. Felt really fast in my B group, passed all my friends. Watch backwards facing video later and there's Ted on his 250 waving to me in the corners before passing me, easily.
Fast foward a couple years and I'm again riding B group, this time at Indy. He past me going into a double apex, riding 2up. Made me angry, and he ran wide, so I passed them into the 2nd apex, then promptly almost high sided off the bike and saved it into a giant tank slapper as I went off track. Im sure he got a chuckle.

The Phoenix bike community didn't exactly love the guy, but they all respected his ability, and there were plenty who did love him. Everybody liked Elaine. The community is less without them. RIP.