Aaron Toone. Rest in peace friend.

[reddman]

Many of you in the offroad community are likely familiar with the name Aaron Toone. He was an amazing local fabricator/designer/mechanic that has had his hands on many of the offroad machines here in the area. He passed away this last Saturday while we were drift triking up in Wasatch County. It's an absolute tragedy.

I'm not sure I have all the details on where he worked, but I know he worked at Wheelers4xCustoms (later "Mepco North") in Centerville and Bountiful back in the late 90's/early 2000's, if I'm not mistaken he spent some time at Mepco/Teraflex after that, then Rock Logic, and finally Ben Hanks Racing before he went back to the more consistent industry of being an ingenious mechanic. Aaron's fingerprints are all over the local offroad scene. His flair for creative design turned countless projects into functional works of art.

If you have any memories of Aaron, please share them! We are missing him so much!

Recently he got into drift triking, and just fell in love with the rush of it. He loved crawling Moab in his big white Bummer, riding his dirtbike, and being a great friend to us and father to his two children.

[video=youtube_share;s0cRHpZl9Ag]http://youtu.be/s0cRHpZl9Ag[/video]

His obituary is here.

Thank you everyone for your thoughts and prayers. There is a memorial fund set up at America First Credit Union to benefit his two children. Anything you can do to help his kids out will be very appreciated.

Aaron Toone Memorial Fund
Routing number 324377516
Account number 9065087
Account type: Savings

 

[Jinx]

Aaron was a great guy, last time I saw him I am pretty sure he was helping me out.

RIP...

 

[I Lean]

I didn't know him, just knew him by reputation--best wishes to his friends and family. Bad news.

 

[RockChucker]

Glad I was able to meet him. What a cool talented guy. RIP

 

[SWALLDOG]

Aaron I love you buddy! I'm going to miss you so much!

Redd, thanks for posting this. Such a good guy and loved by so many in the 4 wheel drive community.

One of the many times we were in Moab, I think it was labor day 2001. Some of our friends and I were at dump bump messing around. It was late probably past midnight. Tooner wasn't there yet. He was coming down the next day. Anyways my jeep wasn't running that well and would backfire on steep angles. Sometimes starting a fire in the carb burning the fuel it dumped out of the floats. Haha. Well that's exactly what happened on dump bump that night. I jumped out and pulled the air cleaner and flames shot out. I went to the back of my jeep to grab a rag to smother the flames. Well some bystanders started yelling fire and started throwing sand on the carb to put it out! Now I have a carb/engine full of sand and I don't know what to do. So I did what anyone who knows Aaron Toone would do. "Call Toone". He said don't start it, tow it back to town and I'll be there tomorrow. The next morning, at like 8 am, I was woken up to Tooner calling me. "I'm in the parking lot, let's fix your jeep." Armed w tools and carb cleaner, he just jumped in. Tearing down the whole carb and intake. Cleaning everything and then slapped it back together and said "let's go wheelin." That's just the kind of person he was. Such a good friend! So smart and always willing to help. I'm guna miss you buddy!

Probably @ work under a truck, Tapatalk 2

 

[Gravy]

Aaron was always generous, he once bought our whole table dinner at Su Casa. He always expessed genuine interest in whatever you had to say. He is a good father and an honest man. He was a talented and creative fabricator. RIP my friend. I'm going to miss him sooo much.

 

[mbryson]

Didn't know him (at least don't think I did) but sounds like a stud.

 

[Bart]

Very sad indeed. Thanks for posting.

 

[Nappy]

Redd, I was wondering in the drift trike group what had happened. I didn't even know if that post was about a local or not... Sorry for all you guys' loss. He sounds like he was an all around great guy.

 

[MikeGyver]

Sad to hear... was there a car involved?

 

[jeeper]

Sad to hear... was there a car involved?

I was wondering the same thing. I am sorry I didn't know him. Sound like a great guy!
Is there something to be learned from this? Was this preventable with helmet? Was there a failure of some sort on the trike? How can the trike community still have gobs of fun, yet be safer?

 

[MikeGyver]

To me it seems almost impossible to not hit an oncoming car on some of those roads, like squaw peak.
Be safe guys.

 

[bryson]

Well this is rotten news... Aaron was a great man, and will surely be missed.

 

[Nappy]

Not to thread jack, because this is a very sad thread, but drift trikes are dangerous. Plain and simple. I don't even have brakes on mine(just feet to the ground) and we get moving down some hills.... Id say it's more dangerous than me stuntriding..... At least I'm in a parking lot most of the time practicing. Drifting is always done on public roads and you just hope for the best.... I wear the same gear as I would on my stuntbike, and I get hurt more drifting... Curbs and cars around every bend.... I believe a car was involved in this, but don't quote me on that... Just think I had seen that in the facebook group thread...

 

[Gravy]

There was a vehicle involved. Out of respect I won't share details, but I will say that from what I know it was a tragic accident. I don't believe there was a party at fault.

Aaron was a very safe rider. As you can see from some of the video footage: he usually rode with a large whip flag, blinking lights, safety vest and full face helmet.
Danger is something we all deal with on a regular basis and while we can mitigate danger, we can't control it.
The concept of safety is construed partially by the like mindedness of our society. Sports like these can be considered dangerous, while driving on a two lane freeway in poor conditions at 65mph with opposing traffic just 8" away is often considered normal.
Aaron wasn't reckless, but he wasn't someone to sit at home for fear and he lived a good life. He didn't fear the "what if's of life." It's a motto I'd like to live closer to.
My friends and I have discussed this at length. Sometimes your card is up.

His life reminds me that control is really just an illusion. The only real control we have is of our own actions.
It's my firm belief that if you have made good choices with honest intentions and forgive others as you seek forgiveness for your own mistakes, you will be happy today and won't have regrets when you pass from this life.

Man, I'll miss him though...

I can't imagine the feelings his family is facing. I would urge you to offer your love and support to his family at this time.

 

[reddman]

Thanks for that post Stratton. You articulated it better than I could have.

 

[reddman]

Here we were in Aaron's big white Bummer down in Moab back in 2001


Codriving with Jimmy Mabey, at RMR I think.