Longtime Michigan speedway employee Barnes dies; he was 55

ADDISON, Mich. (AP) Michigan International Speedway employee Duane Barnes, who survived a 2012 explosion and fire at the Daytona 500, has died. He was 55.

The Brown-Van Hemert Funeral Home says Barnes died at his home in Addison, Michigan, on Tuesday. He spent 27 years at the speedway in Brooklyn.

Barnes was driving a jet dryer under caution at the Daytona raceway in Florida when something broke on Juan Pablo Montoya's car and sent it careening into Barnes' truck.

The collision caused an inferno that scorched the track and temporarily stopped the race. Neither Barnes nor Montoya was seriously hurt.

Barnes is survived by his wife, Barbara; children, Elayna Schalk and Patrick Barnes; four step-children; his mother, Phyllis; two brothers and a sister.

Services are Saturday at the funeral home in Addison.