Part of the excitement of sprint car racing is the danger. Clipanother car's wheels, or enter a corner too hard, and you may findyourself upside down in short order. More often than not, the driverclimbs out of the wreck unaided, and returns the next week or later thatsame night.
Drag driver still critical,' Hayward Daily Review, August 9, 1962 'Drag racer is killed at Fremont,' Modesto Bee and Herald-News, July 30, 1962 'Dragster dies,' Big Spring Daily Herald, July 30, 1962 'Driver killed in drag collision at Fremont,' Oakland Tribune, July 30, 1962. Drivers Killed At Oswego Speedway Our Time Ddlc Mod Gta 5 Skin Changer Motorola Gm360 Programming Software User Manual Format Factory Convertor Open Asd File Hesston 1120 Haybine Manual Garth Brooks Discography Download Autocom Delphi 2013.r1 Keygen 2016 And Software Neia Careers Commons Sims 4.
It wasn't always this way. Sprint cars used to routinely maim andkill their drivers. Modern safety devices such as full face helmets,roll bars, multi-point harnesses, fire suits, and fuel cells have mademost routine accidents survivable. Major advances in medicine andrescue techniques have saved many who would not have survived similarinjuries in the past.
Oswego Speedway Killed Evans left his family's farm in Westernville, New York at age 16 3 to work at a local garage in Rome, New York. After he found early success in street racing, then became a winner in drag racing, an associate suggested he try building a car to race at the nearby Utica-Rome Speedway. - A driver at yesterday’s Oswego Speedway event suffered non-life-threatening injuries after his vehicle was engulfed in flames.
But sometimes the worst happens, and no amount of safety equipment ormedical technology can spare the driver. Or even more tragically, thedriver survives, but is no longer able to drive, or even to care forhimself.
This page is a tribute to the men and women whose lives were claimedor changed by the sport they loved. I regret that I don't have moretime and space to post the many tributes that have been sent to me, but write me if you wish to contribute. I hope to have more on display soon.
Helping the survivors
Some of the survivors require constant medical care, notably Brad Dotyand Page Jones. Donations to their aid funds will be appreciated, notjust by the families, but by all of the racing community. Please givegenerously if you can.
Gone but not forgotten
- Jud Larson was a hard-drinking, hard-driving racer, acolorful character from the days when few drivers survived to retire,and roll cages were for sissies. Larson and Don Branson, a moresober sort, put on a legendary battle for the USAC sprint carchampionship in 1964, which Branson ultimately won. Both were killed,in separate accidents, soon thereafter: Branson at Ascot Park (Gardena,CA) in a November, 1966 crash which also claimed Dick Atkins; Jud Larsonat Reading, PA in a 1966 crash that claimed Red Riegel as well.
- Jan Opperman was one of the original 'outlaws', a 'hippie'with a heavy right foot, whose duels with Kenny Weld were the stuff oflegend. Severe head injuries suffered in a 1981 crash changed his lifeforever. He passed on in September 1997.
- Gary Patterson was one of the original Outlaws, travellingfrom track to track before it was fashionable. As a true independent, heanswered only to himself. He raced what he wanted and where he wanted,seeking the biggest challenges or the biggest purse. But, no matterwhere he was found, he lived and raced only by his choices. No promoter,no race car owner, and no sanctioning group had a leash on 'GP'.
He was among the most well known sprint car drivers in the world,revered in some quarters, considered in more controversial terms inothers. Nonetheless, he was universally recognized and respected for hisdriving talent at every track from Knoxville to Adelaide. Regardless ofhis politics, he stood for hard, wheel-to-wheel, give-no-quarter,competitive racing.
'GP', 'The Preacher', was one of Northern California's favorite sons.And even though he ran on everything from mile ovals to bullrings, thescenic 1/2 mile Calistoga Speedway was one of his favorites (he stillholds the one lap track record for non-winged sprint cars there). Heraced Calistoga by choice. Even the 1983 accident that ended his lifewas the result of his own choice - to take his chances with the wallrather than take out another driver along the way. He lived by his owndecisions, he raced by his own decisions, and was never afraid to facethe consequences. He respected other people's choices. He expected noless than the same respect for his own.
(Contributed by SteveLafond)
- The death of Dave Bradway, Jr. shocked the sprint carcommumity in California and beyond. Bradway died from injuries sufferedin a tragic sprint car crash during the Super Dirt Cup at SkagitSpeedway in Washington State on June 21, 1987. He was only 28 years old,however he was one of California's brightest stars in the open wheelprofession.
David, a second generation driver, began his racing careerin 1976 at Ernie Pursell Speedway in Grass Valley. In his initialseason, he won a pair of main events and finished second in the streetstock division, earning the track's 'rookie of the year' honors. Twoyears later, he ventured into the open wheel ranks by way of themodifieds. By 1980, he had already established himself as a premier openwheel driver. In 1982, David won his first NARC main event at PetalumaSpeedway. He finished the year with three wins and a third place finishin the final points standings. In 1984, Bradway's steady performancesearned him the track championship at Baylands Raceway Park inFremont. His list of credentials continued to grow the following season,winning five NARC feature events and an eventual third place finish inthe championship point standings, despite running a limited schedule. Inaddition, he finished an impressive eighth in the prestigious KnoxvilleNationals. 1986 produced four more NARC feature event wins for Bradway,including three at the high speed 1/2 mile Calistoga Speedway. 'Junior'established himself as a top finisher on the World of Outlaws circuit,winning the Jayhawk Nationals in Kansas City. Bradway's 1987 campaign inthe Clyde Lamar owned machine promised more of the same. He kicked offthe year winning the preliminary World of Outlaws Mini Gold Cup featureat Chico's Silver Dollar Speedway in April. He also won his 13th careerNARC feature at the season opener at Calistoga and became only thesecond member of the exclusive '100 Mile Per Hour Club' at the fast 1/2mile.
In his 11 year career, Bradway laid a solid foundation to become asprint car legend, a legend in the same category as two of his childhoodopen wheel heroes, Jimmy Gordon and Gary Patterson. Unfortunately, allthree died doing what they loved to do best, racing and winning. DaveBradway, Jr. was definitely a winner.
(Contributed by SteveLafond)
- The legendary hills of Winchester (Indiana) Speedway have claimedmany a sprint car driver. Among the more recent victims was RobbieStanley, then-reigning USAC sprint car champ with a brilliant careerahead of him, whose fatal crash in May 1994 stunned the sprint carcommunity.
- The high banks of Salem (Indiana) Speedway have a similarly deadlyreputation. Rich Vogler, many-time USAC sprint and midget champ,met an untimely end there in July of 1990.
- Kara Hendrick, while not a sprint car driver, was a risingstar of the USAC Western States midget series, and as quick andtenacious as any of her rivals. In 1991 (?) she hit the wall at CajonSpeedway in El Cajon, CA, while racing for the lead, and did not surviveher injuries. I believe she was 19 years old at the time. I still missyou, Kara!
- Danny Young died as the result of a flip at Knoxville (IA)Raceway on July 19, 1995. Young was only the second fatality in the17-year history of the World of Outlaws tour. Geoff Cook has contributed this eulogy to Danny.
Retired due to injuries
These drivers are fortunate to have survived, and for one reason oranother have given up the sport. We should be thankful they are stillwith us.
- Brad Doty's crash at Eldora Speedway (Rossburg, OH) severalyears ago made him a paraplegic, but that doesn't keep him fromcirculating in the sprint car community. You can hear his colorcommentary on TNN's coverage of the World of Outlaws series.
- Lately racing hasn't been too good to Doug Wolfgang. Dougstarted racing sprint cars at Knoxville, Iowa in 1975, and quicklybecame one of the drivers to beat. Soon afterward, he took his show onthe road. He won 5 Knoxville Nationals titles and became the winningestdriver in Knoxville history. In his prime, 'Wolfie' could give the bestof the Outlaws a run for their money, and was considered in the sameclass as Steve Kinser and Sammy Swindell: the best of the best. Henever won an Outlaw title, though, because he was always pursuing hisown agenda as a racer.
Disaster struck for the first time in April 1992, at a World ofOutlaws race on pavement in Kansas City. Wolfgang suffered severe burnsand a broken neck (among other injuries) in a crash and fire. When hehad recovered from his injuries in 1994, he returned to racing; but soonafterward Wolfgang sued WoO, the promoter, and the rescue team fornegligence in the crash, and won his case in 1995.
The suit turned many in the sport against Doug, but that didn't stophim from going back to racing. Soon Doug was winning races again in 360sprints at Knoxville and elsewhere. It looked like the old 'Wolfie' wasback! He took the 1996 IMCA title, and was racing 410s again in 1997.
In September of that year, disaster struck again at an All-Stars raceat Tri-City Raceway in Illinois. Wolfgang was going for the main eventlead in a three-way battle with Dean Jacobs and Gary Wright. The threewere side-by-side-by-side when Wolfgang touched wheels with Jacobs inwhat can only be described as a racing accident. The car spun whileairborne, landed on the track facing backwards, and was hit by anothercar, shearing off the roll cage. Doug's neck was broken again, and hejust missed being paralyzed.
While he will make a full recovery from this injury, Doug Wolfganghas decided he will never race again. In light of what racing has doneto him, it seems a wise choice.
Drivers Killed At Oswego Speedway California
On the mend
These drivers were injured more recently, and it is uncertain whether orhow fully they will recover. My prayers go out to them.
Page Jones in a midget at Bakersfield Speedway, Oildale, CA.
- Page Jones, son of '60s sprint and Indy car legend ParnelliJones and younger brother of former IMSA champ and current CART driverP.J. Jones, was a rising star in the West Coast dirt track scene, untilhis 1994 crash at Eldora in the sprint car portion of the USAC 4-CrownNationals. He is currently recovering from severe brain injuries, andthe doctors are hopeful, but Page's progress is slow.
- Wisconsin's Stan Fox was a popular driver on the USACcircuit, making frequent appearances in midgets, sprints and SilverCrown cars, and is a perennial competitor in the Indy 500.Unfortunately Stan's car snapped to the right in the first turn of the1995 Indy 500, and as a result Stan found himself in critical conditionat Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis with head injuries. Miraculously,Fox suffered no broken bones in the crash! Since early August 1995 Stanhas been home with his family, undergoing rehabilitation, and hasreturned to a normal life. At first it appeared Stan might return toracing, but who can blame him if he doesn't?
You can send get-well messages to Bobby Smith, at rsmith@iquest.net. Smith is afriend of the Fox family and will forward all messages to Fox.
Other racing notables
Not all the Fallen Heroes are race drivers, and not all fall toracing's capricious nature. Here we pay tribute to the others who madedirt track racing great.
Patron of the sport
Though he was not a driver that I know of, the contributions ofJ. W. Hunt to the sport of sprint car racing -- and dirt trackracing in general -- cannot be overstated. A strawberry farmer fromFlorida by profession, Hunt was perhaps the biggest fan dirt trackracing ever had, and he spread his considerable wealth around topractically every driver in the sport. The familiar strawberry logoappears to this day on hundreds of race cars and drivers' helmets acrossthe US.
You never knew when or where Hunt would appear, but when he did hewould always spice up the racing by offering a little extra to sweetenthe purse. I remember one particular night at Silver Dollar Speedway,when the CRA non-winged tour was in town for a Gold Cup support race.Lealand McSpadden had set quick time, but flipped in his heat race,ringing his bell and severely damaging the car. J. W. stepped up to theinfield reporter's microphone and offered to add $1000 to the winner'spurse if McSpadden could come back through the B main and win the mainevent! The offer met with roars of approal from the crowd. Looking alittle shaky in a car that wasn't quite right, Lealand proceeded to runaway with the B. A few minutes later, with the car now set up for thealways-tacky Chico track, he won the main event to a standing ovation,and a beaming Hunt was there to greet McSpadden on the victory stand!
Hunt passed away in January of 1994 after a long and full life. ButI'm sure he smiles down on America's dirt tracks every weekend.
Help me remember the fallen heroes
I'm a relative newcomer to the sport, and don't have a lot of historyto draw on. And like most people, my memory is imperfect. Any errorsin this page are mine alone. I apologize if these errors offend anyone,and will correct them as soon as I'm made aware of them.
Please help me by sending the names and histories of the departedand injured, or information about driver aid funds, to me at this address. I will add your information to this page at my earliest opportunity.
Credits
Page layout and text copyright © 1994-1998 Chuck Fry. Unless otherwise stated, all photos this page are by Steve Lafond, and are copyright © 1993-1998 Tear-Off Heaven Fotos.
See the full copyright notice for details.
In addition to the contributed biographies credited above, my thanksto the many people who have informed and corrected me. Space does notpermit me to name them all, but I appreciate their kind words.
Drivers Killed At Oswego Speedway
Fallen heroes of sprint car racing / Copyright © 1994-1998 Chuck Fry / webmaster@chucko.comJim Shampine a legendary racer.
Photos supplied by RetroRockets.org, taken by Don Kranz and Bill Hartwell
Drivers Killed At Oswego Speedway Accident
Jim had had a stellar career of racing Supermodifieds at Oswego.
He had won everything there was to win at Oswego and revolutionized the cars
several times. In fact his designs were so dominating that his cars obsoleted
the rest of the field a couple of times.
Photos supplied by RetroRockets.org, taken by Don Kranz and Bill Hartwell
Jim was an idol of mine (as he was to many racers and fans). I had watched him
race for years, winning lots of races, championships at Oswego and winning in asphalt and dirt modifieds. He was the bench mark for supermodified drivers and builders
and for me, he could do no wrong.
I had gotten to know Jim when I rented a garage in Bridgeport NY,
around the corner from his place. I was still living nearby in Brewerton, NY.
When I needed help with something or needed to use a piece of his
equipment he would always give me a hand. This was during the time
when he and crewman Kevin were building the very offset, rear engine car.
Photos supplied by RetroRockets.org, taken by Don Kranz and Bill Hartwell
Drivers Killed At Oswego Speedway Illinois
The car was so threatening that Oswego banned it after one year of
competition.... and that was the last straw for Shampine at Oswego.
He decided to go sprint car racing. Jim bought a new chassis from
Charlie and Mike Lloyd in PA, car owner/builder for the Smokey Snelbaker 56,
who had been winning a lot of races in recent years.
Photos supplied by RetroRockets.org, taken by Don Kranz and Bill Hartwell
Jim and I had a few occasions to race together and usually we'd pit next to each other.
He was helpful and friendly and it was important for me to do well in front of him.
I remember once at an Outlaw show at Lebanon Valley a reporter came
up to him and asked why the cars were lifting the RF tire when they went
down the straight. The questioner was a tech writer for Open Wheel Magazine
Jim was evasive and said he didn't know, whereby the interviewer started making
statements about chassis twist and the modulus of steel and a whole bunch of
uninformed speculation. I knew the answer and stood there, thinking
like a third grader would, with his hand in the air,
saying 'Oooo, Oooo, call on me, call on me'. But I didn't say anything.
After the interviewer left I asked Jim, 'Don't you know what's going on
there?' and he said, 'Sure, but if I told him, he'd get it all screwed up
when he wrote it. And then he'd credit me with all that wrong information and
I'd look like a fool'.
Ahhh, the voice of experience; he had been stung before.
Jim chased the PA and NY Outlaw races that year. We were pitted next to
each other at Williams Grove and Jim had been having trouble with his
injection so I was helping him with a leak tester I had. Duval tapped me
to let me know I was in the first heat, so I got in the car and was pushed
off to race. I started on the front row and used the still tacky track to
run away with the heat win. I had run here enough to know that after the
first lap at this track everyone gets spread out and it is common to win a heat at Williams Grove
from the front row. I also knew I was on the front row because I had timed
in about 20th. Winning the heat meant I would make the A-main, but I
would be getting my time back and start about 17th. I was happy to win the
heat but I knew it's real value. Jim was very impressed though and that made me
happy.
So later that year Jim and I showed up at Sharon Speedway for a regular
Friday night show. It had rained and the track was sloppy. It was getting
late and they hadn't been able to get the track run in with the packers so
they sent out the race cars. When the sprints got on the track there was
one groove and that was greasy. I knew that the only thing to do was warm
up the engine and keep the car from getting loaded with clay.
After a few laps they dropped the green and Jim came around the outside of
me coming out of two and blew by. When we got to three I backed off way
early because it was so slippery, but Jim hauled on in there. His car went
mostly straight, right into the third turn wall and flipped.
Jim watched the rest of the races from the pits. I had a particularly good night running
second to Dave Blaney. It amazed me that with as much experience and
patience as Jim had, that he misjudged that track and ran that hard in
warmups. It reminded me of when I drove in on the wet cushion in warmups at
Port Royal once and stuffed it into the fence. Seemed like a good idea at the time.
Jim won a few races with the ESS group in NYS and after a couple of seasons
with the sprint car he parked it and got together with Clyde Booth and they built another supermodified and went back to Oswego and winning.
Photos supplied by RetroRockets.org, taken by Don Kranz and Bill Hartwell
A few years later on a Sunday morning, Labor Day weekend, we were at Expo
Speedway in Northeastern Ohio. Either an All Star race or an open show, I don't
remember, but most of the area teams were there. A warm sunny day would
make this flat track a dried out place and that made our chances good.
Duval, and Cheri and Teresa had driven out to Ohio to meet up with me for the
weekend's racing. While we were getting things ready I went over to the
tire truck to get some tear-offs. Some of the guys were talking about
someone getting killed last nite. I asked who and one of them turned and
said 'Shampine'.
My stomach sank.
He was in a quality pavement, full bodied modified for the annual 200 lap modified race at Oswego. A simple spin and bad timing with on coming traffic cost him his life.
I can't describe the feeling. I guess some people call it numb. It was
somehow distant for me. I knew that race drivers get killed and accepted it.
But I knew Jim, and that was different, it left me hollow.
We raced that day and had a top 5 finish. The thought of loosing Shampine
was replaced by the total concentration of driving the car and solving the
setup puzzle for the day. After the race we packed up and headed down the
road.
This race weekend was a busy one. I had a ride in a modified at the Syracuse
Mile Monday afternoon and planned to race the sprint at Selinsgrove that
night, 4 hours south. That Sunday night Duval drove and I rode in the trusty
black van down I-90 to Syracuse while his wife Cheri and Teresa drove the
cube van towing the race car from Ohio down to Selinsgrove.
Jim was one of my racing heroes and it was an honor to know him and race
with him. As Duval and I went down the NYS Thruway (I-90) a huge display of northern
lights lit up the starry sky.