IRVINE, Calif. — A 27-year-old Australian-born car influencer who helped build one of the largest weekly automotive gatherings in the country was killed early Sunday when his McLaren slammed into a tree at high speed, split in two and erupted in a fireball that also claimed the life of a 22-year-old Florida woman he had just met in person.
James Wehr, co-founder of South OC Cars and Coffee, and Alexis “Lexi” Kramer died at the scene shortly after midnight on Sept. 13 near Culver Drive and Deerfield Avenue. Irvine police said the 2019 McLaren had been stopped at a red light. When the light turned green, the driver accelerated hard, lost control, struck a curb and then a tree. The impact tore the supercar apart and set it ablaze. Firefighters extinguished the wreckage and found both occupants dead inside.
Dashcam video obtained by TMZ shows the McLaren surging forward after the light change, appearing to hit a wet patch of pavement, then swerving right into the tree before exploding into a massive fireball. Police have said speed was a factor. Witnesses described the vehicle traveling at an extremely high rate of speed, with some estimating more than 100 mph. The department’s Major Accident Investigation Team is still working the case and has said a full reconstruction will take months.
Wehr was behind the wheel. An Irvine police spokesperson later confirmed evidence placed a female in the passenger seat just before impact. Kramer, a Hooters calendar girl and bartender from Lakeland, Florida, had flown in Friday after roughly a month of Instagram messages. Wehr paid for the ticket. Her family said the pair attended his Saturday car show, then had dinner and drinks in Newport Beach. It was their first in-person meeting.
Hours earlier, at 7:21 p.m. Saturday, Newport Beach police pulled the McLaren over near Newport Boulevard and Finley Avenue after an officer noticed a loud exhaust. The stop ended with a warning. Wehr posted images consistent with that encounter on Instagram before the crash.
Wehr was born Aug. 17, 1999, in Perth, Australia. His family later settled in Orange County. With his father, Simon, he launched South OC Cars and Coffee around 2017 after the original Irvine Cars and Coffee gathering shut down. What began as a small Saturday meetup in a San Clemente Target parking lot outgrew the lot and moved to the Outlets at San Clemente, where it still runs every Saturday from 9 to 11 a.m.
Organizers describe it as the world’s largest weekly car show, regularly drawing 800 to 2,500 vehicles, hypercars, classics, muscle cars, hot rods and motorcycles, plus thousands of spectators. James, Simon, mother Sarah and a crew of about 50 volunteers ran the operation. The event has faced neighbor complaints over noise and traffic, but city officials have allowed it to continue with added rules against speeding, revving and burnouts.
Beyond the weekly show, Wehr built a following as a content creator, collaborating with aftermarket firms including VF Engineering and 1016 Industries. He was frequently photographed with a collection that included a widebody McLaren 720S, a VF-tuned Audi R8, a 992-generation Porsche 911 and a Chevrolet Camaro. There is no independently verified public net-worth figure for Wehr. His lifestyle, exotic cars, event-scale crowds, paid travel for guests, and social-media reach in the tens of thousands were funded through the family-run gathering, partnerships and content work rather than a disclosed corporate salary.
Court records show a lengthy traffic history. Orange County filings list more than a dozen vehicle-code violations since 2017. In 2026 alone, he received four tickets involving license plates, registration, proof of insurance, and a muffler. In 2023, he was accused of driving more than 100 mph; he pleaded not guilty, and the case was dismissed in 2024. Those prior stops did not prevent him from remaining a central figure in the local car scene.
Wehr married Emma Esquivel on July 20, 2025, at Grand Gimeno in Old Towne Orange after meeting in a college parking lot following a fender-bender years earlier. Their wedding site described a five-and-a-half-year relationship, an Ibiza cliff proposal and a shared life in Orange County. Emma, a real-estate agent, posted a tribute calling him “smart, kind, funny, loving” and “the greatest blessing.”
Kramer’s sister Gracie has said Wehr told Lexi he was separated and that a divorce was being finalized. A search of Orange County court records found no divorce filing. The Wehr family has not publicly addressed that claim.
Tributes from the car community poured in immediately. Tuner shops, fellow organizers and attendees described Wehr as energetic, positive and central to a weekly ritual that had become part of South Orange County’s identity. His mother recalled his first steps in Perth and “insanely great belly-laugh.” A makeshift memorial of flowers and a cross formed at the charred pine tree on Culver Drive.
Investigators have not released a final cause determination. The video, the traffic history, the police warning hours earlier and the passenger’s first-date circumstances have already made the wreck one of the most closely watched single-vehicle crashes in Orange County this year. Two young people are dead. A weekly gathering that drew thousands now faces the question of how it continues without the man who helped build it.
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