The family of a 22-year-old woman killed in a fiery McLaren crash in Irvine is asking for help to bring her remains back to Florida. Alexis “Lexi” Kramer was the passenger in the speeding supercar that also killed the driver, South OC Cars and Coffee co-founder James Wehr, 27, over the weekend.
Kramer lived in Lakeland, Florida. Her sister, Kaitlin Gracie Kramer, has launched a GoFundMe to raise money for funeral expenses and the cost of transporting the young woman’s remains across the country. “Because of where it took place my family now has to make arrangements to get her back to our home in Florida,” Kaitlin Gracie Kramer posted. “I would like to host a celebration of life to honor my sister and give a space for all of her family, friends and members of our community to come out and share in our love for Lexi.”
Irvine police on Thursday, Sept. 17 officially identified the pair, confirming what both families had already revealed in emotional social media posts soon after the crash. Major accident investigators, the department said in a news release on Facebook, “have clear evidence that shows Wehr was in the driver’s seat of the McLaren and Kramer was in the passenger seat at the time of the collision.” Investigators will examine all possible contributing factors, including roadway and vehicle conditions, the vehicle’s speed, and anything that may have affected Wehr’s operation of the car, police said.
The McLaren was traveling north on Culver Drive near Deerfield Avenue — at a high rate of speed, according to police — when it struck a tree around 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, Sept. 13. As of Thursday, police had not estimated how fast the car was going when it spun out of control, hit the tree, split and burst into flames. Firefighters extinguished the blaze and found both occupants dead inside. Police initially did not publicly name the person behind the wheel, but later confirmed the male occupant was driving.
At one point on Saturday, Sept. 12, Newport Beach police had stopped Wehr for a modified exhaust and issued him a warning, Irvine police spokesman Kyle Oldoerp said earlier this week.
Wehr, 27, co-founded South OC Cars and Coffee with his father, Simon Wehr. The free event, which bills itself as “the world’s largest weekly car show,” is held Saturday mornings at the Outlets at San Clemente and regularly attracts hundreds of exotic, vintage and specialty vehicles. He had a large social media following, with more than 44,000 followers on Instagram at the time of his death.
Kramer worked at Hooters in Florida and appeared as a model in the restaurant chain’s 2026 calendar, according to her Instagram account. Her recent posts included images of her on a Kawasaki motorcycle and in a race car. Her sister told the California Post that Lexi had flown from Lakeland to California on Friday, Sept. 11, to meet Wehr, and that the two had connected over Instagram and talked for about a month before meeting in person. Gracie Kramer said her sister “loved the car community, so it’s such a tragedy that that’s what ended her.”
Wehr’s wife, Emma Wehr, who was not involved in the crash, joined other family members and South OC Cars and Coffee in announcing his death on Instagram on Sunday. “Unfortunately, we have some really heavy news to share with you all. This morning, just after midnight, we lost our darling son and brother James in a motor accident,” his parents, Simon and Sarah Wehr, said in the post. “We respectfully ask for privacy as a family as we process this profound loss.”
Members of Southern California‘s automotive community remembered Wehr as a charismatic figure who brought all types of car enthusiasts together. On Saturday, Sept. 19 at 8:30 a.m., a public memorial event for Wehr and Kramer will be held at the site of the car club’s weekly gathering at the Outlets at San Clemente, the car club posted on Instagram this week.
