salem speedway deaths

Paved Oval located in Salem, IN: Track Status: Still In Operation (Opened: 1947 ) TOURING SERIES & MAJOR EVENTS ; Date Sanction Winner Laps 22 June 1947: AAA Midwest Big Car Series: Track inspections vary, as well. NASCAR hadnt yet arrived to swallow the sport. He would make consecutive starts at Indy from then on, up until 1990. Insurance companies, some fearful of legal liability, are reluctant to mandate any driver or car inspections. You have permission to edit this article. There are improvements that I want to make to the pavement, the pit area, lighting, infield concessions, infield restrooms and the scoreboard. Salem Speedway will be under new ownership for the 2023 racing season. The tire hit a concrete barrier in front of the grandstand. Sweikert fought for custody of their young daughter. This page was last edited on 23 December 2014, at 08:46. 1 sprint car, just one year after he won the worlds most famous race, tumbled over the turn one wall at Salem Speedway. Finishing first among the survivors was a young driver from Pittsboro, Indiana, named Jeff Gordon. After Sports Illustrated put Sweikert on the cover of its May 28, 1956, issue, he wound up sixth in the race. Salem Speedway is a .555 miles (0.893 km) long paved oval racetrack in Washington Township, Washington County, near Salem, Indiana, United States, approximately 100 miles (160 km) south of Indianapolis. Now, he says softly, he doesn't know. 1 most stressful city for U.S. workers, Turner: State takeover of Houston ISD could happen next week, Bun B on bringing Southern rap stars to Houston's Rodeo, 'Call me a Nazi': Former Houston pastor calls for state book ban, How the Houston Zoo moved its flock of flamingos to a new home, Astros show struggles with new MLB pitch clock rules, West Texans share apocalyptic photos of after massive dust storm, Houston leaders delay vote on Hobby Airport concesssions contract, The only Houston rodeo food guide you'll need, Watch: Houston Astros' Luis Garcia debuts new windup, Houston pitmaster goes viral after hilarious on-air interview with reporter. In May 1956, at his final return to the Indianapolis 500, Sweikert began in the 10th starting position and came in for a 6th-place finish, with the team's D-A Lubricant roadster. View local obituaries in utah. In a 1998 incident, an out-of-control race car climbed over a fence at a Phoenix speedway and came to rest just 15 feet from fan seating. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Racing is returning to Salem, Indiana. At the 81 Speedway, Hall says cars are inspected on two occasions -- the first time they appear at the track and after they are involved in accidents. On May 30, 1955 Sweikert finally won the Indianapolis 500 race, from the 14th starting position in the Zink Kurtis roadster #6. Salem Speedway is a .555 miles (0.893km) long paved oval racetrack in Washington Township, Washington County, near Salem, Indiana, United States, approximately 100 miles (160km) south of Indianapolis. He won 1 race and accumulated a total of 8 championship points. He drove in northern California that year and later in Los Angeles. At 5 p.m. their mother, Mrs. Marie Tomlinson, 32, began Sweikert's car, on the outside, brushed a piece of metal . In the following 11 years, four more were killed at the track, and in 1983, the 10th and final fatality at Riverside occurred, when ex-Formula 1 and Le Mans driver Rolf Stommelen's IMSA GTP Porsche. The 2023 Salem Speedway tentative schedule: March 18: Riverside Drift Clinic April 8: (3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt) Open Practice for all divisions April 16: (Season Opener) GAS, CVBT, CVST,. Usually, his mother and his sons appear at the annual fund-raiser. Last year he won 16 of the 33 races en route to his fifth championship. Find the History Mystery Man onFacebookandYouTube. In 1947, Sweikert met his first wife, Marion Edwards, at a party at UCLA. Lindsey took to cars with the same fervor. Comment * document.getElementById("comment").setAttribute( "id", "a1fe75f612aa39abd4fbfcf156e736a1" );document.getElementById("hc1b4e368d").setAttribute( "id", "comment" ); document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. 2803 Obituaries. Most prominently, three spectators were killed and six injured by a flying wheel and debris in June 1998 when driver Adrian Hernandez hit the Turn 4 wall during a Championship Auto Racing Teams. AUTO RACING: Salem Speedway has new owner DANIEL SUDDEATH daniel.suddeath@newsandtribune.com Dec 24, 2022 From left, Will Kimmel interviews new Salem Speedway owner and promoter Nick. Street Funeral Home. He was one of the good guys. I didnt even think Id hit 21. He was leading the race at the time, when his car crashed with just over a lap to go. In May 1999, three died and eight were injured in Concord when a wheel and parts from a three-car wreck flew into the grandstand during an Indy Racing League event at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Insurers wait as much as three years between track visits, leaving opportunity for repairs and maintenance to lag. Jeff Mayden hasn't been to Salem Speedway in the five years since his daughter's death. For Dorie Sweikert, the loss never really went away. In 1988, Vogler was running 20+ laps down in the race when he waived his position to former Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Death. "I ask myself every night if something could have been different," Mayden says. USAC, however, did not see Vogler waive Fittipaldi by, and, as a result, they penalized Fittipaldi two laps. In July 1995, Michael "Buzz" Baker, a visiting construction worker from Sabetha, Kan., paid to watch a Saturday night of races from the pit bleachers. He ran seventy-two races that first BCRA season, finishing 14th out of 130 active members in the annual point standings. Sacks, who will start third on today behind Mark Martin and Ken Schrader, ran a strong seventh here in June after leading late in the race. "We don't do checks before races," says Hall. He continued to tinker with the mechanics, then entered the 25-lap event, anyway. "It didn't belong on that car," Hall says. Other officials do little, shrugging instead at the danger of mixing fans who crave nearness and cars that, by design, fragment upon impact. Careening cars, debris can end lives in instant, Watch: Astros SP Luis Garcia debuts new windup after rule changes, Houston facing severe thunderstorms, possible tornadoes Thursday, Oops! Days before his 40th birthday, Vogler was competing in a nationally broadcast ESPN Thunder Joe James / Pat O'Connor Memorial sprint car event at Salem Speedway. [1], Bob Sweikert grew up in pre-war Los Angeles. to Indianapolis and listed the house for sale. Now his dream was not just to win Indy, but to be the best in the world. Sweikert's mother, Grace, often visited Bob's firstborn until Grace died. We will keep the other local divisions that have been running at the track and plan to continue to bring in some additional outside touring series to keep fans interested in coming to all our events. There is also a Team Vogler Classic at the Indianapolis Speedrome. "I have 200 fires to put out," track president Doug McManus says. It would do no good for anyone to tell Bob Sweikert to quit racing. As the field favorite going for his third consecutive win at Indy, Vuky, who was leading when he crashed, would have been tough to That was Bobs favorite of the half-mile tracks, Dorie Sweikert said. His Bowes Seal Fast 14 Kurtis-Kraft flew end over end out of Trenton, broke in half on . Roger Bruce Hassing. At the time of his death, he had moved to Concord, NC and was being groomed for NASCAR . Such decisions are largely left up to speedways. On July 5th, 1970, he was driving for Mauri Amerling, at the Salem, Indiana speedway when. From age 16 Sweikert worked after school as a mechanic at the local Ford dealership in Hayward. The challenge for speedway owners: How do you balance the counterweights of safety and intimacy? The banks were spooky. That wasnt what qualified him as an early victim of the SI jinx. I had a deep spiritual belief that got me through that. [1] Don Gettelfinger Sr. bought the track in 1987 and he replaced the fence with concrete. Their cars, after months of mutual insult, begin to take on the appearance of crumpled paper. Sweikert finished sixth at Indianapolis the following May, but then died weeks later, at age 30, in 1956 after crashing a Sprint car at Salem Speedway. There was kind of a machismo attached to it. Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich wrote, The madness known as speed-car racing now has claimed one more well-known corpse, and there has to be a new revulsion toward the whole senseless business of motorized Roman Holidays for the dues-paying spectators.. Dorie Sweikert never had attended an auto race until she met her future husband. Bob Sweikerts death in an auto race last June was reflected USAC Loctite-Crestliner Vans National Sprint Car Series, USAC Copenhagen-Skoal National Midget Series, USAC Stoops Freightliner National Sprint Car Series, USAC MCI WorldCom National Midget Car Series, USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, Northern Division, Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Super Sprint Series, USAC Valvoline National Sprint Car Series, USAR Hooters Pro Cup Series, Sears Auto Center Northern Division, ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards, AMSOIL USAC Sprint Car National Championship, CRA JEGS All-Stars Tour presented by Chevrolet Performance, Circle Track Great American Racing Series, Lawrence Towing CRA Street Stock Series Powered by JEGS, USAC Silver Crown Champ Car Series presented by Traxxas, Vores Compact Touring Series powered by Mercer County Electric, Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS, Victory Custom Trailers CRA Junior Late Model Series, https://www.thethirdturn.com/w/index.php?title=Salem_Speedway&oldid=657339. For over 65 years Salem Speedway has enjoyed the recognition of being one of the most unique and renowned racetracks in America. Marjorie Ann Bitter. He was only 30, leaving behind his wife Dolores and four children. Read More. With months to heal and the war over, he was honorably discharged in September 1945. SALEM, IND. The .555-Mile oval that features imposing 33-degree banked turns was built strictly for speed. After a complicated, sometimes off-and-on courtship, they were married in 1953. [2] A thunderstorm had ripped the roof off the grandstands and fences were damaged. left their home at 5241 Will Scarlett Lane, a block from the Sweikert home, for At the time, Vogler was scheduled to run the full Winston Cup Series in the near-future for U.S. "He was a true professional who served his community with pride every day for over 32 years," the Amherst Police Department said in a statement. His mother had married his stepfather, an electrician for the state of California, when Bob was an infant. Not long before his death, he won that year's Rich Vogler Memorial Race at Winchester in the restored Hoffman Brothers' "White Lightning" #69 sprint car in which then defending national champion Vogler had been killed at the Salem Speedway in 1990. January 22, 2023 (76 years old) View obituary. Search Provo obituaries and condolences, hosted by Echovita.com. They are. 1,476 check-ins. Ironically, it was Reece who was standing in the turn one infield on July 17, 1956 and filmed Sweikert's accident. Like our page to stay informed about passing of a loved one in Provo, Utah on facebook. office. You hear the story about how someone can walk into a room and everyone turns and looks that was Sweikert, she said. This event be an action packed weekend full of racing and fun. Bob Sweikert participated in 5 World Championship races. "A good Sunday was when every driver cheated death and went home alive." The Salem Speedway joined "The Hills" circuit in 1947, and immediately demonstrated its potential for disaster. Considered by drivers as one of the area's safer tracks, Lancaster falls prey to spectators sneaking into restricted areas or watching from behind the short fences that circle the outside of the oval. Vogler, now dead at the age of 39, was declared the winner posthumously because of USAC National Sprint Car Series rules on a red flag reverting to the previous completed lap. The Salem Speedway joined The Hills circuit in 1947, and immediately demonstrated its potential for disaster. Speedway infield. She spent after-school hours at her father's Sellersburg, Ind., body shop and weekends with her mother at nearby Salem Speedway, watching her dad and uncle race. Learn More Community See All. We are in the process of finalizing our 2023 schedule and will have that out next week.. "I still love to go to races," Cynthia says now. Please subscribe to. Situated in the scenic hills of southern Indiana, The Salem Speedway roars to life . SALEM Former USAC Midget racer Nick Bohanon has taken over ownership of the iconic Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery, located in Salem, Indiana. Was built strictly for speed counterweights of safety and intimacy barrier in front of grandstand. Sweikert grew up in pre-war Los Angeles and renowned racetracks in America dealership in Hayward insurance companies, fearful! The local Ford dealership in Hayward his stepfather, an electrician for state! The Hills circuit in 1947, and immediately demonstrated its potential for.! Will be under new ownership for the 2023 racing season Dolores and four children Mayden says most! Age 16 Sweikert worked after school as a result, they penalized Fittipaldi two laps daughter 's death a... 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