SCHENECTADY – The owner of a Schenectady engineering firm died in an accident during a motorcycle race in Minnesota on Friday afternoon, according to MotoAmerica.
Scott Briody, 50, who co-founded the firm Innovative Test Solutions in 2004, died as a result of injuries suffered in a single-motorcycle crash that occurred during a qualifying round on July 29 at Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, Minn., according to the racing league. Briody, who lived in the Greene County hamlet of Hannacroix, was a competitor in MotoAmerica’s Stock 1000 class.
He is survived by his wife, Susan; daughter, Darian, and sons, Reese and Jarrett.
“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Scott Briody,” MotoAmerica COO Chuck Aksland said in a statement. “Our thoughts and prayers go out to his family, his team and the MotoAmerica paddock.”
While an Innovative Test Solutions spokesman confirmed Briody’s death Monday, he declined further comment out of respect for the family.
The company later issued a statement Tuesday.
“Scott’s love of motorsports was borne equally from his passion for adventure as well as the mechanical and physical principles of the sport,” the company’s statement read. “The Innovative Test Solutions laboratory was founded by him, his wife Susan, and Lou Fiorini in 2004. They have ever since dedicated themselves and the company to pushing the performance envelope of the products they test to ensure that the materials used in everyday products provide the highest level of safety and performance.”
Briody was the vice president and CEO of Innovative Test Solutions, a mechanical engineering and testing laboratory that he co-founded in 2004. Briody graduated from Union College in 2002 with a degree in mechanical engineering, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Innovative Test Solutions, located on Kings Road in Schenectady, specializes in the mechanical behavior of structures and structural material, with a focus on thermal barrier coatings, vibration, fatigue, friction, wear and other factors, according to its website.
Last October, the firm hosted 15 students from the Gloversville Enlarged School District’s High-Altitude Achievement Club to run tests to determine how well a student-designed satellite would hold up against the pressures of being put on a rocket headed into space.
Briody’s social media presence focused heavily on his motorcycle racing. The most recent post on the Scott Briody #34 Facebook page is dated July 22 and was about an upcoming memorial ride for a late-racer named Scott Mullin.
On Facebook, Scott Hussey, who said he has been photographing motorcycle racing in upstate New York for half a decade, shared that Briody was one of the “helpers” to which the late Mr. Fred Rogers referred.
“Every time you see him, he is doing something for somebody else,” Hussey said during a phone call Monday. “Anything that anybody needs, whether it’s helping with a bike or giving somebody a tool or helping somebody figure out how to ride a certain corner, he just helped people constantly.”
Andrew Waite can be reached at [email protected] and at 518-417-9338. Follow him on Twitter @UpstateWaite.
Updated 8/2/22 1:46 p.m. with statement from Innovative Test Solutions
Categories: -News-, Schenectady, Schenectady County
