Former United States Auto Club national sprint car champion Tony Elliott was among four men who died in a plane crash Friday afternoon while flying from Indiana to the Notre Dame-Clemson football game.
The single-engine Piper PA-32 crashed on the bank of Lake Hartwell while traveling from Warsaw, Indiana, to Seneca, South Carolina. An Oconee County Airport official told The Greenville News that conditions were "dismal" at the time of the crash.
Federal Aviation Administration authorities have not yet given a cause for the crash.
Elliott, 54, won USAC national titles in 1998 and 2000.
Former Tippecanoe Valley High School football coaches Charles Smith, 71, and Scott Bibler, 51, and Scott Smith, 44, also died in the crash, according to the Oconee County Coroner. Charles Smith, a councilman in Warsaw, was flying the plane, officials said.
Tony Stewart Racing reflected on the loss of Elliott on social media.
We were sorry to hear of the tragic passing of our competitor and friend, Tony Elliott, following a plane crash... http://t.co/ObOG7FasEm
— Tony Stewart Racing (@tonystewart_rcg) October 3, 2015The Associated Press contributed to this report.