Aubrey McClendon, best known as the former CEO of Chesapeake Energy Corp. but known to Route 66 fans as owner of the landmark Pops in Arcadia, Oklahoma, died in a fiery highway crash in Oklahoma City on Wednesday — one day after he was federally indicted in an alleged bid-rigging scheme. He was 56.
The Oklahoman newspaper reported McClendon drove his SUV into a concrete bridge.
“He pretty much drove straight into the wall,” police Capt. Paco Balderrama said. “There was plenty of opportunity to correct or go back to the roadway. That didn’t occur.”
The CNG-powered SUV was engulfed in flames. Police said McClendon was not wearing a seat belt. Balderrama said McClendon was traveling well over the posted speed limit of 50 mph.
The investigation into the crash will not be complete for at least two weeks. The medical examiner will determine the cause of his death.
In addition to the Pops in Arcadia and a second site in the Nichols Hills area of Oklahoma City, McClendon was an investor in other restaurants in OKC on Route 66, including several in the historic Will Rogers Theatre (on the Western Avenue alignment), Irma’s Burger Shack (on the Classen Drive alignment), Deep Fork Grill (on Western), Republic Gastropub (on Classen) and The Drake (on Northwest 23rd).
Last but not least, McClendon also was a part owner of the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder.
Pops in Arcadia opened in 2007 as a combination convenience store, souvenir shop and restaurant known for its 66-foot-tall, LED-festooned soda bottle and offering more than 500 flavors of soda from well-stocked coolers. Renowned architect Rand Elliott designed Pops and Route 66 author Michael Wallis was consulted about its Route 66 aesthetics.
Pops had been much-hyped since its groundbreaking in 2006, so when it finally made an unannounced soft opening one day in the late spring of 2007, hundreds of people showed up. For years afterward, it wasn’t unusual to see dozens of cars and motorcycles filling the parking lot during the lunch and dinner hours.
McClendon founded Chesapeake Energy Corp. in 1989 and became an early adopter in the energy sector in horizontal drilling and fracking. At one time, Chesapeake became the nation’s largest producer of natural gas, and one year McClendon became the highest-paid CEO with a compensation package of $112 million.
McClendon eventually had a falling-out with his company over its extended debt and the use of Chesapeake resources for family and friends. He stepped down as CEO in 2013, but he still was fighting a Chesapeake lawsuit against him at the time of his death.
On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted McClendon on charges of conspiring to rig bids for oil and natural-gas leases between 2007 and 2012. McClendon denied the allegations.
McClendon is survived by his wife, Katie, and three children. A community memorial is scheduled for 6:30 a.m. Saturday at the Chesapeake Boathouse, 725 S Lincoln Blvd. in Oklahoma City, along the Oklahoma River.
UPDATE 3/10/2016: A Bloomberg report indicates McClendon had more than just an indictment on his mind. Apparently the new company he’d founded was on the verge of collapsing because of plummeting energy prices.
(Image of Aubrey McClendon via Wikimedia Commons; image of Pops in Arcadia, Oklahoma, by Randy Lane via Flickr)
The people who are grieving the most include those 9000 people in PA + OH who have filed one giant lawsuit against Chesapeake, the people who can’t farm any more because they can’t use their water, the people whose urine contains fracking fluid, people whose farms Chesapeake mortaged without their consent and without even telling them, and the many leasees who Chesapeake back charged for marketing and other expenses took away 90% of their royalities check.