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50+ Years of Racing in the PNW

In Memory of E. Norm Hernandez

On July 14, 2007 the racing community lost a respected competitor and good friend when Norm Hernandez was killed in the crash of his aircraft. He was instrumental in the success of Formula Mazda in the Pacific Northwest.

Dear friends, family and colleagues,

As many of you know by now, my father, Norm Hernandez, was killed in a plane crash this past weekend.

On Saturday July 14th, Norm was flying his Yakilov 55 aerobatic plane to Paine field from Arlington when he encountered engine trouble and was forced to search for a place to land. Neighbors reported hearing his engine cut in and out, and seeing the plane crash into a backyard, where it burst into flames. Medical examiners report that he died instantly and did not suffer.

Based on my conversations with eye-witnesses as well as with the NTSB, it is clear to all of us that Norm's last efforts in life were to insure that he did not harm anyone else as his plane fell from the sky. Having met the 10 and 11 year old girls who lived in the house he flew over just before the crash, I can say that his efforts were not in vain. I will never ever forget those little girls' faces, nor how their mother failed to contain her emotion over what she described as my father's "heroics".

Norm was a husband, father, son, grandfather, pilot, racecar driver, hunter, fisherman, sailor, engineer, mathematician, MIT Alumnus, PhD, UW professor, mechanic, horseman, houndsman, entrepreneur, leader, and one hell of a good shot. I was never once able to beat him at the shooting range! Norm's absence will be felt strongly in family and local business circles, but it will be felt equally in the worlds of racing, sailing, and flying. And while I wish I had my father back more than anything in the world, I am to some small extent able to find comfort in the fact that he lived a full life and died doing something he loved: flying.

Thank you,

- Ean Hernandez, and the Hernandez Family