ABC 7 Chicago reports that a contractor for NASCAR has died as the result of an accident that occurred at the Chicago Street Race on Friday.
The contractor is 53-year-old Duane Tabinski.
According to ABC 7, "Tabinski is the founder of an eponymous event production company, DUANE, and was in Chicago to supply audio equipment for the NASCAR Chicago Street Race."
For those unfamiliar with the event, it occurred on July 1 and 2, and it was the "first-ever NASCAR Cup Series street race in NASCAR’s 75-year history." Riders raced around the streets near Grant Park, in Chicago, Illinois, on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course.
ABC 7, citing Tabinski's coworkers, goes on to report that, at the time of his passing, Tabinski was setting up a piece of audio equipment, which he had invented, called Tracpac.
Ken Sorrell, DUANE's director of business development, says that Tabinski, on Friday, "went up into the grandstands and he was able to fire it up for the first time and see it all work, and it was one of the happiest days of his life."
This, however, is when tragedy struck. As he was setting up audio equipment, Tabinski was seriously electrocuted.
Emergency personnel was called to the scene, and they rapidly transported Tabinski from the race course to Northwestern Memorial Hospital. But, it was too late.
On Friday morning, at the Hospital, Tabinski was pronounced dead.
The specific details of the situation that led to Tabinski's death have not been released. NASCAR, for its part, only put out a brief statement on the matter saying that Tabinski "suffered a fatal medical emergency."
"We are coordinating with local authorities on this tragic incident," organizers of the race said. "We share our condolences to the family and their loved ones."
According to Sorrell, Tabinski was from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. More recently, though, Tabinski had been living in the metropolitan area of Nashville, Tennessee.
Sorrell says that Tabinski's passion was his company, DUANE. In fact, Sorrell says that it had been Tabinski's dream - since he was 17 years old - to create and lead such a company. And, now that Tabinski has passed on, Sorrell said that he and the other members of the company that Tabinski created will carry on this dream.
"We're gonna carry on," Sorrell said. "We're gonna keep doing things. We're gonna do this NASCAR event, all these future shows, and we're gonna make him proud."
