US News

Was Paul Walker street racing?

Death imitated art for “Fast & Furious” star Paul Walker, whose fiery fatal car crash occurred during an illegal street race that could been ripped from one of his high-adrenaline hot-rod flicks, according to a report.
The red 2005 Porsche Carrera GT in which Walker was riding Saturday night burst into a ball of flames when driver Roger Rodas lost control and rammed a tree during the duel on an industrial road in a Los Angeles suburb, the gossip Web site TMZ reported Monday.
It’s not yet known how fast they were going when the car struck the tree.

Walker, 40, had made it clear in interviews that his love of speeding was not confined to the silver screen.
“I did 197 [mph],” the actor told Entertainment Tonight earlier this year. “I just haven’t broken 200 yet, which is driving me crazy. I’ll do it.”
Detectives could not confirm that racing was involved.

However, officials said that the crash happened in an area of Valencia, Calif., popular with speed freaks.
Walker’s tragic end came on a 45-mph street through an industrial area. It’s so isolated that it is almost irresistible to car junkies hungry to enjoy some real-life “Fast & Furious” action.

“It’s well-known out here that that’s a hot spot for street racers,” California Highway Patrol Sgt. Rick Miler said. “It’s a long stretch where, weekends, businesses are all closed and [racers] feel like nobody’s going to bother them.”
The Hollywood Life Web site reported that Walker’s girlfriend, Jasmine Pilchard-Gosnell, 23, “literally collapsed” when she got the news of his death Sunday.
Jim Torp, a friend of Walker’s, said Pilchard-Gosnell — who started dating the actor when she was 16 — was standing beside Torp when he got a phone call from his son, who was at the crash site and said “looks like Paul and Roger didn’t make it.”
“When I told her what happened she fell, she collapsed,” said Torp.

Walker and Rodas, 38, the car’s owner, had bonded over their love of racing.
While its not clear how the crash will affect the “Fast & Furious” franchise, Walker’s father said the actor had said he wanted to take a break from movies to spend time with his teenage daughter, Meadow.
“[He told me] ‘I want to take a hiatus. She’s just 15, and I don’t have much more time to be with her.’ And then, boom, he got another three movies,” Paul Walker Sr. told a CBS affiliate in LA.