Hendrick family marks fatal crash site

Members of NASCAR?s Hendrick family have erected a 14-foot cross on Bull Mountain in memory of the 10 people who died when a team plane crashed there in 2004.

The 8-foot-wide polished metal cross was placed at the private site about two weeks ago, according to Jesse Essex, manager of media relations for Hendrick Motorsports. He did not know what company completed the project.

The cross replaces smaller versions placed at the site soon after the Oct. 25, 2004, crash, which occurred as the group was en route to a Nextel Cup Series race at Martinsville Speedway.

Federal investigators concluded that the flight crew improperly read instruments and missed a landing approach to Blue Ridge Airport, resulting in the Beech King Air 200 crashing into the fog-shrouded mountain.

Killed were John Hendrick, president of Hendrick Motorsports and brother of its founder, Rick Hendrick; John Hendrick?s twin daughters, Kimberly and Jennifer Hendrick; Ricky Hendrick, son of Rick Hendrick; Jeff Turner; Randy Dorton, the Hendrick team?s chief engine builder; Scott Latham, a pilot of NASCAR driver Tony Stewart; and pilots Dick Tracy and Liz Morrison.

Hendrick Motorsports employs 460 workers at its North Carolina compound and owns the Nextel Cup teams of Jeff Gordon, Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch and Brian Vickers.