Almost 200 people squeezed into Christian Fellowship Church in Mammoth Lakes, California, last weekend, filling the pews, sitting three across in the aisles and gathering in the hallways, recalled church pastor Mark Smith.
Unexpectedly, Smith said, they came from a nearby motocross track to grieve the loss of a young rising star on June 28.
Aidan Zingg, 16, died earlier that day in a mid-race crash on the dirt track about 300 miles north of Los Angeles, sparking talk about whether the sport can be made safer and renewing grief in a community rocked yet again.
In February, a 12-year-old boy died during a motocross crash in Georgia.
In June, 2 1/2 weeks before Aidan’s death, a 14-year-old boy died after an accident at a motocross practice in North Carolina.
Then came the tragedy in Mammoth Lakes.
Aidan rode a modified bike, a so-called rocket that his father, Bob Zingg, said reached speeds of 60 mph at the dirt track.
‘Obviously I’m angry and upset,’ said Zingg, who when asked for a photo of his son replied, ‘I’d rather it not be any motocross stuff.’
Coping with Aidan Zingg’s death
At Fellowship Christian Church on Saturday, the pastor said he was taken aback when the large crowd arrived for his evening service. When the service it ended, dozens lingered in the parking lot outside the church, according to Smith.
He said the motocross community that was in town for the race rallied around Aidan’s family.
‘Honestly, I didn’t even need to be there because they were so supported by everyone,’ Smith said.
When Aidan’s family returned to the site of his crash the following day, they found a large cross bearing Aidan’s name planted in the dirt.
‘The only thing I can say right now, I guess to comfort myself, is God just needed him back,’ said Aidan’s mother, Shari, “because it just doesn’t make sense for him to have crashed in this corner.’
Aidan, who won his first national championship last year, handled the high speeds at the dirt track. The crash took place on a relatively gentle-sloped turn, out of sight from most spectators, according to Bob Zingg and the race promoter, Myron Short.
At the time of the crash, Zingg said, he was standing in the infield holding the pit board for his son.
‘I tell him what position he’s in, kind of just like some reminders,’ Zingg said. “Squeeze with your legs, remember to breathe.’
When his son failed to emerge from the site of the crash, Zingg said he ran and got there in time to hold Aidan as he died. ‘That’s going to be something that haunts me forever,’ he said.
There are conflicting accounts about how Aidan died, and his family is waiting for the results of an ongoing investigation by the Mammoth Lakes Police Department and the results of an autopsy.
‘He just wanted to win’
Undersized at 5-7 and about 130 pounds, Aidan separated himself from the pack with dedication, according to his parents. He worked out daily near the family’s house in Hemet, about 90 miles east of Los Angeles, eating massive amounts of food in attempt to bulk up, his parents said.
His big breakthrough came last year when at a prestigious event at Loretta Lynn’s ranch in Hurricane Mills, Tennesse, Aidan won his first AMA national championship.
Then he signed a two-year sponsorship deal with Team Kawasaki that took effect at the start of 2025.
‘Once he got that ride (with Team Kawasaki), he definitely stepped it up and everything kind of changed for us,’ Shari Zingg said. ‘It was super cool that he got to experience that.’
He started riding when he was about 6, noted Shari. “He was a natural on the bike as far as his talent,’ she said. ‘The competitiveness, unfortunately, he took from me on that and it just wasn’t there. So my husband spent years, I’ll just use the word nurturing, that competitiveness into him.’
Fallout after Aidan’s death
Cari Schehr, a well-known motocross trainer in Southern California, said 15 of her riders traveled to Monster Energy Mammoth Motorcross.
About half of them came back after Aidan’s fatal crash.
‘I have one kid that actually decided to quit,’ Schehr said. “Everybody just wants to know, is there something else that can change?’
Ongoing chatter centers on whether to restrict amateur riders to stock bikes rather than the modified bikes designed to go faster.
‘Because now you’ve got these young kids at 140 pounds on these rocket ships and still not being able to have that adult man strength to really be able to control something with that kind of power and speed,’ Schehr said.
But she remains unconvinced that’s the solution, saying five riders she’s trained have died at the track and two of them were on stock bikes.
Bob Zingg suggested another possible solution.
‘The rougher the track gets, the slower it gets,’ he said. ‘The more ruts there are, the bigger the bumps are, the more technical it is. So you’re definitely much better off to grade the track really deep.’
But Otto Albrecht, who competed in the race during which Aidan died, said, ‘It’s a dangerous sport. We all know it when we get on the bike. But the love of the sport is worth the risk.’
Not only did Aidan ride, but so does his 12-year-old brother, Bobby. The day before Aidan’s crash, Bobby had one that was much worse, according to Bob Zingg.
‘And Bobby’s coming to me crying,’ Zingg said, ‘just like, ‘Dad, how does this happen to Aidan? He was such a good rider.”
Yet another young one to be buried soon.
This post appeared first on USA TODAY
