On lap three, Fitzgerald crashed his Nissan 300ZX Turbo into a Jersey barrier in turn 1 at over , according to fellow competitor Paul Gentilozzi. Fitzgerald was extracted from the vehicle and transported to Bayfront Medical Center, where he was declared dead on arrival. Fitzgerald's teammate and friend, Paul Newman, had planned to continue competing in his honor when the race restarted, but suffered a mechanical problem. An autopsy eventually revealed that Fitzgerald had died from a broken neck. In 1988, Road Atlanta dedicated the track's Jim Fitzgerald Memorial Park in Fitzgerald's honor. In 2011, SCCA inducted Fitzgerald into the Hall of Fame.