Pilot of Crashed Food City Helicopter Still Missing

It's been roughly 20 hours since the Food City-owned helicopter that was shuttling staff to and from Bristol Motor Speedway crashed.  Reports indicated that it had just dropped off Food City CEO Steve Smith and was headed back to Bristol when the helicopter crashed into South Holston Lake.

The wreck took place in water up to forty feet deep in spots.  Sadly the pilot is still missing and we can only presume the worse as the search becomes a recovery effort.  The cause for the accident has yet to be resolved.  Our thoughts go out to all involved and concerned.

Food City has been a long-time sponsor of NASCAR... they've stuck by NASCAR for the last 20 years or so, so this pilot is akin to a NASCAR family member missing.  There's a much lengthier set of details at the source if you're interested...

(source: WJHL)