BURNS, OR—AUGUST 12—Frank "Scoop" Vessels, whose family founded the Los Alamitos Race Course, died in a plane crash Wednesday morning in eastern Oregon, Harney County sheriffs said today.

Vessels, 58 of Bonsall, California, and Sam Bartley Cannell, 73, of Anderson, California were killed when the plane plummeted to the ground after witnesses said they saw the plane breaking up coming out of the clouds and a section of the wing was torn off, Harney sheriffs reported.

Vessels was flying the plane, officials said.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the crash, and officials said it usually takes about three to five days to wrap up their work.

The plane, a 1962 Aero Commander Model 500-B, had departed from Redding and was making its way to Montana, Harney officials said. The plane crashed near Oregon's historic Riddle Ranch, about eight miles south of Burns.

Vessels was the grandson of Los Alamitos Race Course founder Frank Vessels Sr. His grandfather moved to Orange County in 1920 and after 20 years of owning a construction company, his grandfather built the racetrack on a 435-acre ranch.

The track held its first quarter horse race in 1951, and the family owned and operated the track for 35 years. His mother Mildred Vessels managed the track for many years before selling it.

Vessels was one of the leading figures in American Quarter Horse racing. A former AQHA president, he was the owner of Vessels Stallion Farm at Bonsall, California, which stands all-time leading sire First Down Dash.

He was also an avid off-road racer and competed as an open-class pickup truck driver in SCORE racing in the '80s and '90s. He was also a previous winner of the grueling off-road races the Baja 500 and the Baja 1000, the San Diego Union Tribune reported.

“To his wife, Bonnie, and their children, the Los Alamitos Race Course family sends its most heartfelt sentiments of sorrow. We are in shock. The suddenness of this event has disturbed me deeply. When the news of his passing was confirmed it devastated me. Scoop Vessels and I have been business partners and friends for a long time. I will always respect his love for racing and I had a great deal of admiration for the man that he grew up to be. He was a man of ideas and always looking forward to helping improve the sport of Quarter Horse racing," Dr. Ed Allred said in an official statement from Los Alamitos Race Course on Thursday afternoon.

"The passing of Scoop will be hard for Quarter Horse racing not only in California but also nationally to overcome. There could not be a person in this sport more significant in terms of ability, background and family heritage. Vessels Stallion Farm has been the dominant source of Quarter Horse racing bloodlines for many years and we depend on their racing stock. Above and beyond that, Scoop was devoted to this sport and the horses, not only Quarter Horses but Thoroughbreds as well. As a past president of the American Quarter Horse Association and the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association, Scoop spent his life working in the production and promotion of fine horses. We will have to dig deep to overcome, survive and thrive as a sport without him. It will be a difficult task. It’s the biggest blow this industry could have suffered. We couldn’t have lost anyone of more importance," he added.

Vessels is survived by his wife, Bonnie, and his three children Cash, Bryan and Colt.

Cannell, an architect was an AQHA owner and breeder also. He was a partner on champion Little Bit Of Baja. He is survived by four daughters.