One killed, one injured in early morning four-wheeler accident
Oct. 7—Muskogee Police are investigating a crash that happened early Thursday resulting in the death of a Muskogee man and injuring a North Dakota man.
Hayden Ross, 20, of Muskogee, and Spencer Libby, 26, of Fargo, North Dakota, were riding a four-wheeler when the crash occurred on the property of Ross Construction, 3500 N. York St., according to a news release from the Muskogee Police Department. Ross was pronounced dead at the scene and transported to the medical examiner's office, while the condition of Libby has not been released nor have any other details.
The duo was riding a red 2017 Honda four-wheeler when the crash happened. The police report says the crash occurred between 3-4:47 a.m., while the 9-1-1 report says the call came in at 4:07 a.m.
Ross, who graduated from Muskogee High School in 2021, was an accomplished race car driver with a promising future in the sport. He had just clinched the Sooner Late Model Series championship, a regional circuit where he had won seven times this season and most recently at Thunderbird Speedway on last Friday.
In January 2020, Ross participated as part of a Team USA for an Invasion Tour of Australia series.
His father Brady Ross is promoter at Thunderbird and took on the Thunderbird operation to sustain local racing when Outlaw Motor Speedway shut down for good last year.
"Hayden was a great young man, a champion in more ways than one," said Stanley Slader, who ran Thunderbird Speedway for a time. "The racing world and his family have lost a true champion."
Kip Hughes of Enid, promoter of Enid Speedway, was a four-time Sooner Late Models points champion going into this season. He posted a photo on his Facebook page from Hayden's first win on the tour, telling him, "now that the hard one was out of the way, the rest would be easy."
"Boy was I right. We're all going to miss him. I think every driver in the Sooner Series is hurting like hell this morning. I know this one is. He's a champion — that among many other great things is how I'll remember him."
Muskogee Police Deputy Chief Reggie Cotton said the crash is under investigation and is being treated as a death investigation as well as a traffic collision. He also said the department is waiting on a report from the medical examiner's office to determine the cause of the crash or if there were any contributing factors.
The police report did not say who was operating the vehicle at the time of the crash.
Phoenix sports editor Mike Kays contributed to this report.
