Jet dryer driver in Juan Pablo Montoya 2012 Daytona 500 crash dies
The man who was driving the jet dryer that Juan Pablo Montoya crashed into at the 2012 Daytona 500 has died.
Duane Barnes was 55. He died Tuesday and had worked for Michigan International Speedway for 27 years.
“Our condolences are with Duane’s family and friends,” Michigan International Speedway president Roger Curtis said in a statement. “Duane was a trusted, respected and most important part of our MIS family and the NASCAR community for almost 30 years, and we will miss him tremendously. We’re a tight group, and I can only hope the wonderful memories of Duane will help comfort us and his family during this difficult time.”
Barnes was quiet about the incident, which happened under caution during the rain-delayed race being run on Monday evening. He was up near the wall when Montoya was hurrying to catch up to the rest of the field after being on pit road.
Something broke on Montoya’s car as it entered turn three and it slammed into the jet dryer behind Barnes’ truck. Both drivers able to escape their vehicles as fire engulfed the track from the leaking jet fuel.
The race was delayed two hours as Daytona workers cleaned up the mess and fixed the track. Had the race been called, Dave Blaney would have been the Daytona 500 winner. Matt Kenseth ended up winning the race.
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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
