One of the stars of one of the most successful car movie franchises, The Fast and the Furious, was laid to rest in California Sunday. The service was punctuated by the sounds of high performance car engines in Santa Clarita during the procession to the grave site of Paul Walker, as reported by ABC News.
According to Los Angeles County Sheriff's Capt. Mike Parker, an estimated 5,000 individuals, some entire families with their children in tow, had made the pilgrimage. While the gathering was supposed to be solemn, the captain also noted that the police arrested a man carrying a partially hidden loaded gun and issued around 40 citations for illegal parking.
Prior to the actor being laid to rest, an impromptu tribute was held, as reported by Variety, drawing thousands of individuals with their high performance cars at the crash site where Walker and his friend Roger Rodas had died. The invite was done through Facebook which was liked and accepted by many who had attended.
The movie franchise had spawned the body kit industry as moviegoers were influenced by the lights, the cars and the speed. Many even sought to copy the cars in the movie. Two of these fans are long time friends Chris Harrel and Conner Eddy, who drove 20 hours through ice and snow from Washington state to Valencia to meet up with fellow mourners and car enthusiasts in the Santa Clarita crash site, as reported by the LA Times.
Walker and Rodas had perished when the latter crashed his 2005 Porsche Carrera GT into a pole and a tree, resulting in the car exploding in flames. Walker died of trauma and burns as he sat on the passenger side of the vehicle. The two had just taken a joy ride from a charity event for the victims of Typhoon Haiyan organized by Walker's non-profit organization.