LIMA, PERU - JANUARY 04: Robby Gordon of team Hummer (USA) on January 4, 2013 in Lima, Peru. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The father of former NASCAR race-car driver Robby Gordon and his father’s wife were found dead at their home in Southern California on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Orange County coroner.
Autopsies on Robert Gordon, a 68-year-old former off-road racer known as “Baja Bob,” and his 57-year-old wife Sharon were scheduled for Thursday. Orange County Supervising Deputy Coroner Kelly Keyes told USA Today that the cause of their deaths “had not been ruled one way or another.” CBSLA also cited the identification of the bodies by the coroner’s office Thursday morning.
Police in Orange, California received a 911 call from a neighbor at 5 p.m. on Wednesday that reported there were two bodies inside the Gordons’ home– which is approximately 30 miles from downtown Los Angeles–Orange police Lt. Fred Lopez said in a statement. Officers also discovered a rifle inside the residence, Lopez added.
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“There is no cause of death at this time,” Lopez said.
Robby Gordon, 47, is a former NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver and owner. According to the Los Angeles Times, Gordon has owned his home since 1989.
Police told CBSLA the case was being investigated as a potential murder/suicide.
Lopez also told the Register that police do not believe a suspect is at large.
Gordon won three Sprint Cup races in a career that spanned parts of 19 seasons. He started the Indianapolis 500 10 times, and is an off-road racer/owner in the Stadium Super Trucks series. Gordon is scheduled to run this weekend in Costa Mesa. His sister, Beccy Hunter-Reay, is also an off-road racer and, according to her husband’s Instagram account, she gave birth to a baby boy earlier this week. Beccy is married to Verizon IndyCar Series driver Ryan Hunter-Reay.
Several notable NASCAR drivers, including Dale Earnhardt Jr., expressed their condolences for the Gordon family on social media:
LIMA, PERU – JANUARY 04: Robby Gordon of team Hummer (USA) on January 4, 2013 in Lima, Peru. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
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