A famous name doesn't make a race driver indestructible. There were brushes with death. Lee, who died of natural causes at 86 last month, flew off the 31-degree banking at Daytona in 1961 and landed 100 feet away. Richard once broke his neck. Kyle, Richard's son and Adam's father, broke his leg at Talladega, Ala., in 1991 and missed 12 races.
Danger is part of the allure of racing.
But the risk is real. Adam, who died at 19, learned this early in his racing career. In an American Speed Association race in 1998, he ran over and killed crew chief Chris Bradley during a pit stop. Bradley apparently didn't tell anybody he was going to dive under the car to adjust a sway bar, and Adam pulled out when the jack was dropped. There's warmth and fuzziness to all the family participation in auto racing, but some have paid the ultimate price.