LOS ANGELES: The sounds of high-performance car engines filled the air Sunday as thousands of fans, friends and car enthusiasts headed to the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Clarita to pay tribute to Paul Walker at the site where the ‘Fast and Furious’ actor and Roger Rodas died in a car crash two weeks ago.
The unusual public memorial took the form of a car rally, with drivers slowly filing past the spot in Santa Clarita, where Walker, 40, and Rodas, 38, died on November 30. Rodas, the owner of a local auto dealership and racing services company, was behind the wheel of the Porsche Carrera GT, with Walker in the passenger seat, when it crashed into a utility pole and burst into flames.
Walker had been in Santa Clarita, about 25 miles north of Los Angeles, for a charity event.
The memorial, which was organized via social media, was scheduled for noon, but Captain Mike Parker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said that mourners began arriving as early as 6am to pay their respects and leave flowers, candles, stuffed animals and other tributes along the side of the road.
“All the guys out here wanted to be like him,” one of the mourners said of Walker, according to the LA Times, adding that he looked up to the actor for his life on and off camera.
Parker said that more than 1,000 cars drove past the site of the wreck, now marked by flowers and cards, and estimated that a total of 5,000 people took part in the event. He said some mourners drove down in caravans from as far away as Texas, Arizona and Nevada.
Walker became a symbol of street-racing and fast- car culture in his role as law enforcement officer Brian O’Conner in the Fast and Furious series. The actor, who played supporting roles in 1998’s Pleasantville and 1999’s Varsity Blues, was in five of the six Fast and Furious films about illegal street racing, heists and organized crime.
Walker also starred in the Hurricane Katrina survival drama Hours, which will be released on December 13, and the crime drama Brick Mansions, which is in post-production and will be released next year.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 10th, 2013.
Like Life & Style on Facebook, follow @ETLifeandStyle on Twitter for the latest in fashion, gossip and entertainment.