Motocross rider's death blamed on mechanical failure

By Deanna Boyd

dboyd@star-telegram.com

FORT WORTH -- Mechanical failure is responsible for a crash Sunday morning that killed a popular motocross rider during a practice jump for an event at Texas Motor Speedway, the tour's manager said Monday.

Jim "The Real Deal" McNeil was performing a straight jump between two ramps at a Boost Mobile Freestylemx.com exhibition when he crashed his Yamaha YZ250.

Cory Stem, tour manager of Freestylemx.com, said an investigation by the company has found "an unknown mechanical failure on the machine caused him to improperly execute the completion of the jump."

"We could hear the engine running poorly after he made the jump," Stem said. "It's physics. If you don't have enough speed, you're not going to go the distance. He came up short on the landing."

McNeil, 32, was taken by helicopter ambulance to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead less than an hour later.

His death was ruled an accident Monday by the Tarrant County medical examiner's office, caused by blunt-force trauma to the chest and neck.

The crash occurred at 10:30 a.m. at the Boost Mobile display in the midway area in front of the speedway gates.

Witness report

Eric Fox had just arrived at the speedway with members of Texas Lyceum, a leadership organization, when the group came across the motocross riders warming up.

"I had 65 people with me. Most of them had never been to a NASCAR race," said Fox, conference chairman for the group, which was meeting in Fort Worth. "I had been telling them about the carnival-like atmosphere outside the racetrack, and I said: 'Look right here. Where else do you get to see motocross guys?'"

Fox said he and 20 or 25 members of the group stopped to watch the practice.

He said three riders had made successful jumps when McNeil attempted his jump, falling short of the landing ramp.

"The front tire misses the ramp and it jams into the back," Fox said.

Fox said that during the crash, McNeil's chest hit the motorcycle's handles bars and his chin struck the edge of the ramp, snapping his head back.

"We knew. We're old enough to know," Fox said about the seriousness of the crash. "We all stopped. We all said a prayer. We all said this wasn't good. Folks started scrambling. It is an image I will live with the rest of my life."

Fox said a medical-aid crew in a golf cart was the first to arrive at the scene, working to free McNeil from the ramp and place him on a backboard. He said an ambulance arrived minutes later.

Fox said McNeil's death was announced to spectators during the AAA Texas 500 NASCAR race Sunday afternoon.

Accomplished pro

McNeil, a competitor since 2000 who had participated in five X Games, had performed on the Boost Mobile team for seven years.

"He worked with us a lot simply due to the fact of his exceptional riding ability, his professionalism and the fact that we knew that when we hired McNeil, problems rarely happened," Stem said. "Very rarely in our sport do we have an incident such as this. This is the first time for us in 14 years."

Stem said McNeil was wearing protective gear and a helmet.

"It's not uncommon for a rider to spend upward of $2,000 for a full set of protective gear," he said.

Stem said a law enforcement agency investigated the crash Sunday and deemed it an accident. Sgt. Pedro Criado, a Fort Worth police spokesman, said Monday that the department completed only an incident report.

The incident report, completed by an officer working off-duty at the speedway and using information supplied by two tour members who witnessed the crash, said McNeil was attempting a jump when his motorcycle "malfunctioned, losing power." As a result, the report states, McNeil could not safely complete the jump and crashed.

Stem said some may question why riders would participate in such a dangerous sport, but "we do this because we love it. It's entertaining. We do it for the fans, and the fans love it."

He said the riders understand that the sport is dangerous.

"A lot of them wouldn't have it any other way. Jim McNeil was definitely a guy like that," Stem said. "While it's hard for us, we celebrate Jim's life and what he's done for the fans ... rather than focus on the negativity."

Deanna Boyd, 817-390-7655

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