A NASCAR contractor lost his life Friday after reportedly being electrocuted at the Chicago Street Race site.
Emergency services responded to a distress call just before 11:30 a.m. reporting a critical situation involving 53-year-old Duane Tabinski, reported ABC. Tabinski was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital where medical professionals, despite their best efforts, pronounced him dead.
NASCAR said he suffered a “fatal medical emergency,” in a statement, but no further details of the incident have been released. (RELATED: Heroic Man Drowns Saving Two Children From Creek)
Tabinski, the founder of DUANE, an event production company, had traveled to Chicago to provide audio equipment for the NASCAR Chicago Street Race. He had recently developed a groundbreaking audio device, Tracpac, which he was reportedly setting up at the time of the unfortunate incident.
“The DUANE team is shocked and saddened to inform you of Duane Tabinski’s passing earlier today,” DUANE wrote on Facebook. “He was busy doing what he loved, providing a top-of-the-line audio experience for the enjoyment of others. A very giving and caring soul, Duane will be missed.”
“Earlier today he went up into the grandstands and he was able to fire it up for the first time and see it all work, and it was one of the happiest days of his life,” Ken Sorrell, director of business development at DUANE, told ABC.
“A man of great passion for what he loved. His wife, his friends and his work,” Bob Kennedy wrote on Facebook. “He was one of the best people I have ever known or been around.”
“I love you brother and will miss you terribly,” Ken Munro wrote. “Poured a Caesar to commiserate the first drink ever poured for me by Duane and Kristen.”