Motorcycle crash victim identified

Gear heads and car lovers across the Midwest lost a walking car and motorcycle encyclopedia and a dear friend Sunday.

David Patrick O'Donnell, 28, of Villa Park was killed in a fatal motorcycle accident Sunday evening. Friends say he was enjoying one of fall's last nice days on his motorcycle when tragedy struck.

Schaumburg police, still investigating the cause of the crash, said O'Donnell was riding his 2002 Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle south on West Frontage Road south of Golf Road when he rode onto the east shoulder and struck a fence running along Route 53 about 5 p.m. Sunday.

O'Donnell was the only person on the motorcycle and wasn't wearing a helmet, police said.

Joey DeTomaso, the Villa Park-based administrator of car-enthusiast Web site www.lincolnvscadillac.com, said he lost his best friend and one of the few people he would trust with his 1994 Lincoln MarkVIII.

"I can't begin to tell you how big of a shock this is and how much of a loss this will be to me," he said. "Dave was my closest friend."

On the site, O'Donnell, working under the screen name Jibit, would frequently assist other Lincoln owners across the country with problems ranging from a stuck hood to some of the more intricate details of Lincoln models.

"I opened the site as an online car club for members to chat, but Dave always took it further than that," DeTomaso said Monday night. "It would be nothing for Dave to pack up some tools and run out and help someone two states over with their (Lincoln) problems, just because he was helpful."

One of those people, Debi Mosholder of Columbus, Ohio, befriended O'Donnell years ago when he took days off work to help her upgrade her Mark VIII and prepare it for the race track.

"He taught me everything he knew about these cars but most of all he taught me how to find the most in my fellow man and how to give of yourself until it hurts," Mosholder said Monday. "He took the time to reply to a newbie on the site. And I was lucky enough be helped by the best, and at the time I didn't even know it."

DeTomaso said despite O'Donnell's affinity for the fancy cars, he also enjoyed motorcycles. He considered O'Donnell a skilled and safe motorcycle handler.

"I obviously wasn't there, but Dave was such an expert rider that I suspect the bike malfunctioned," he said. "I guarantee you this was not a case of a kid riding too fast.

"In my head I can see the throttle locking up and Dave doing everything he could to regain control. But he ran out of time."

Police are asking anyone who witnessed the crash to call the traffic crash reconstruction team at (847) 882-3534.