Robbie Brewer dies after medical emergency during race at Bowman Gray Stadium

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — A veteran stock-car driver at a North Carolina short track died over the weekend after suffering a medical emergency while competing in a race, officials said.

Robbie Brewer’s car struck head-on a wall on the quarter-mile (0.40-kilometer) track at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem and came to a stop near the start-finish line.

Track workers peeled away the roof to remove the 53-year-old Brewer, and an ambulance took him to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist hospital, after which he died, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.

“We are saddened by the passing of Robbie Brewer after he was transported to an area medical facility following an on-track medical incident,” track officials said Sunday in a statement. “Robbie was a talented and passionate racer, and highly respected competitor among his peers. Our thoughts and prayers are with Robbie’s family and friends at this time.”

Details of the medical emergency weren’t released.

Brewer was competing in a 20-lap Sportsman Division race at Bowman Gray, where thousands of racing fans turn out weekly on Saturday nights in the spring and summer for races across four divisions. Bowman Gray also was the locale for this year’s preseason NASCAR Cup Series exhibition event in early February.

Brewer’s first career start at the oval came in 1990, and he made nearly 260 starts in the Sportsman Division, winning the points championship in 2011, the newspaper reported.

Fellow Bowman Gray driver Brad Lewis, whose race shop is near where Brewer lived, said Brewer “was like a big brother to me even though we were not that far apart in age.”

“He was a wheelman through and through,” Lewis said. “I’m not only going to honor him the rest of the season but for as long as we race out there. He’ll be missed.”