Echoing tragedy

 Awful things happen to good people in this world, which is why every human with a working soul occasionally shakes his or her fist at the heavens. "Life's not fair," after all, has never been an adequate response to the inexplicable.

And so we come, reluctantly, to a small plane burning on a runway in Statesville, N.C., yesterday, a week before Christmas.

The small plane, a Cessna C550, crashed on approach to Statesville Regional Airport, killing all seven people aboard. Among them were former NASCAR standout Greg Biffle, his wife, and their two children, ages 14 and 5.

An entire family, wiped out in one violent instant. A week before Christmas, and five days before Biffle's 56th birthday.

And, no, the fact one of those who died was moderately famous doesn't make it worse. 

For the non-NASCAR crowd out there, Biffle wheeled a stock car for Jack Roush most of his Cup career, which spanned 16 years. He came up in the truck series in 1998, eventually becoming the first driver ever to win both the truck series (2000) and what's now called the Xfiniti series (2002). His won 19 races for Roush, with his best season in Cup coming in 2005, when he finished second in the points.

All that got him selected as one of NASCAR's all-time top 75 drivers.

What didn't get him selected, but should have gotten him onto a different, more prestigious list, was what he did just last year.

A registered helicopter and small plane pilot, Biffle flew his own copter to rescue those trapped by the catastrophic floodwaters that hit North Carolina during hurricane Helene. He spent the next several weeks flying in supplies and flying out the stranded.

And then came yesterday. And, no, life isn't fair, and, yes, I'm going to say, "That's not good enough," and what the hell, besides.

I guess the best answer I can come up with is what happened yesterday is part of a legacy of tragedy that echoes long down the years. Whatever it is that gets inside a man (or woman) and makes him want to go fast also makes him want to take to the skies -- and with too often numbing finality.

Biffle, see, is only the latest racer to die in a flying machine. There was Davey Allison, who died in a helicopter crash at Talladega almost 33 years ago. Alan Kulwicki, another NASCAR star who died in a plane crash the same year. Formula One icon Graham Hill, killed when the plane he was flying crashed on approach in 1975.

And yet another NASCAR star, Curtis Turner, who crashed his plane and died in 1970.

 Echoes upon echoes. And, again, still no answer why.