September 20, 2014 - On Friday, TOBC racing owner and racer Jon Couch and his mother, Frances Couch were killed in a plane crash at Virginia International Raceway. One of the owners of the track, Connie Nyholm said the track was preparing for this weekends two day Championship Cup Series Fall CycleFest of Speed motorcycle road racing. 

Just after 5 PM, Couch who lived in Alexandria, Virginia did a flyover in his 1954 T-28C Trojan Navy trainer (N531KG). Witnesses reported the aircraft buzzed low and appeared to be doing some acrobatic maneuvers when it crashed in an open field "in the center of the Patriot course" and caught fire. About 30 percent of the plane burned in what witnesses call a large fireball.

He "disappeared over the trees and then we heard a thud and there was smoke and flames." One witness said he was doing barrel rolls at a low altitude. When emergency responders arrived on the scene one person was declared dead and one was transported to a hospital. No one on the ground was injured.

Nyholm said "We deal with the possibility of motorsports incidents every day. It's the first and hopefully only time that we'll ever have this experience." The track was immediately shut down after the crash. 

Couch's T-28C Trojan Navy trainer, built by North American Aviation was registered to him in 2011, by the FAA. The aircraft was equipped with a 1,425 hp (R-1820-86) radial Csingle-engine developed by Curtiss-Wright. The "T" stands for Trainer.