Alexis “Lexi” Kramer, a 22-year-old Hooters calendar model from Lakeland, Florida, has been identified as one of two people killed in a horrific McLaren crash in Irvine, California.
Kramer died alongside James Wehr, 27, the founder of South OC Cars and Coffee. The crash happened early Sunday and has left friends, family, and the car community mourning two young lives lost in a devastating incident.
According to reports, Kramer had traveled across the country to meet Wehr after the pair had been communicating online. What was supposed to be a meeting between two people who had connected became a tragedy within hours.
Two people were killed when a McLaren crashed into a tree and burst into flames overnight in Irvine, police said. Relatives identified one of the victims as James Wehr, who co-founded South OC Cars and Coffee in San Clemente.
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— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 14, 2026
Kramer had arrived in California just two days earlier to meet Wehr in person for the first time after the pair connected on Instagram and spent about a month talking, according to her devastated sister Gracie Kramer.
The young bartender, whose Instagram bio identified her as a 2026 Hooters calendar girl, shared Wehr’s passion for cars and motorcycles and had spent the weekend going on a first date with him and attending his hugely popular auto show.
‘She loved the car community, so it’s such a tragedy that that’s what ended her,’ Gracie told the California Post.
Kramer’s sister said Wehr had paid for Lexi’s flight from Florida after telling her that he and his wife, Emma Wehr, were separated and in the process of divorcing.
Gracie, however, said she had doubts about what her sister had been told as Orange County court records reviewed by the Post reportedly show no divorce case had been filed.
‘That man lied to my sister and said his divorce was finalizing and he was fully separated,’ Gracie said.
‘[He] talked to her every day all the time and finally got her to fly out to California to come see him.’
The circumstances surrounding the crash remain deeply troubling. A McLaren is designed for speed and performance, but Sunday’s crash showed how quickly a powerful vehicle can become deadly.
The pair spent part of Saturday at Wehr’s South OC Cars and Coffee event before heading out that evening.
According to Gracie, they ate at Nobu and later had drinks at the Pendry Hotel in Newport Beach in the hours before the deadly wreck.
Wehr posted an image from the Pendry on Instagram and later shared a photograph apparently showing the black 2019 McLaren 720S pulled over by police.
It remains unclear why the supercar was stopped.
Shortly after midnight, the McLaren was sitting at a red light near Culver Drive and Deerfield Avenue in Irvine, according to police.
Investigators said the vehicle then accelerated at high speed when the light changed before the driver lost control.
The McLaren clipped a curb and slammed violently into a tree at around 12.20am, breaking apart and erupting in flames. Both Wehr and Kramer were killed.
Authorities have not publicly said who was driving. The circumstances leading to the crash remain under investigation.
Gracie said her family supplied dental records to the medical examiner to help formally identify her sister.
Their deaths are a painful reminder that life can change in a matter of seconds. Their families and friends are now left to deal with a loss that no one expected.
Two people were killed when a McLaren crashed into a tree and burst into flames overnight in Irvine, police said. Relatives identified one of the victims as James Wehr, who co-founded South OC Cars and Coffee in San Clemente.
Read more: https://t.co/seBi0Lnug1 pic.twitter.com/2xN8qLC4cL
— ABC7 Eyewitness News (@ABC7) September 14, 2026
