[3], Vogler finished seventeenth in his only NASCAR Busch Series start at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham in 1988.[4]. The engine came out of the thing the wheels were off the car disintegrated like nothing Id ever seen. The wheel hit Amanda flush, crushing her lungs and heart beyond surgeons' repair. When Vogler got word of Fittipaldi's penalty, he went up to USAC to testify for him, calling the penalty "unjust." 2980 N. National Road, Suite A, Columbus, IN 47201, Main Switchboard: (812) 372-7811 Weeks later, Sweikert's fatal sprint car crash occurred on June 17, 1956, at Salem Speedway. Richard Kavanagh, pastor of St. The track has 33 degrees of banking in the corners. They settled in Indiana, to be close to the Speedway where Sweikert hoped to race and win. Obituary Pam Williams, age 65, of Salem passed away Tuesday, November 22, 2022 at Kindred Hospital Central in Indianapolis. Sweikert was pronounced dead upon arrival at Washington County Hospital. The tragic death of Bill Vukovich during the 1955 Indianapolis 500 unfairly cast a long, dark shadow over the career of the winner of that year's race Bob Sweikert. Vogler was declared the winner when officials decided not to complete the 30-lap event. had intended to finish the job the day after the fatal Salem race. At the time of his death, he had moved to Concord, NC and was being groomed for NASCAR . Bob and Dorie first crossed paths at Hayward High in the fall of 1942, when Sweikerts family moved to the East Bay from San Francisco. a ride on their tricycles late in the afternoon. in a second tragedy yesterday when two small brothers were drowned in the swimming He is tied with Pat Flaherty for the record of the driver with the fewest points to have won a race. 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. SALEM, IND. Im ready to get started on making improvements as soon as the weather lets us. Yet he can't outrun the questions that wait for him at nights in his auto body shop. I didnt see him airborne.. Current NASCAR Stars Chase Elliott, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones and Mitchells own Chase Briscoe have also competed on the High Banks while advancing their careers. The following paragraphs have been transcribed from the Indianapolis If hed come along a half-century later, Bob Sweikert might have been that lucky young driver. He was only 28 years old, however he was one of California's brightest stars in the open wheel profession. 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. After Sweikert was buried in California his widow returned Newspapers.com makes these newspapers available for the purpose of historical research, and is not responsible for the content of any newspapers archived at our site. In the 1950s, talent won races, but luck decided who lived and died on the track. [2] Major auto racing series that run at Salem are ARCA and USAC. Sam, their police dog, trotted beside them. Keep reading with unlimited digital access. Finishing first among the survivors was a young driver from Pittsboro, Indiana, named Jeff Gordon. Drive. No other cars were involved. 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. The track has 33 degrees of banking in the corners. Martin took the pole for today's 12:10 p.m. race, qualifying his Ford at 158.264 mph. USAC, however, did not see Vogler waive Fittipaldi by, and, as a result, they penalized Fittipaldi two laps. or. The crash happened about 40 minutes earlier. The 2023 Salem Speedway tentative schedule: April 8: (3rd Annual Easter Egg Hunt) Open Practice for all divisions, April 16: (Season Opener) GAS, CVBT, CVST, Scrappers, May 7: (Derby Hangover Twin 75s) GAS, CVBT, CVST, 602 Stocks, June 3: ASA/CRA Super Series, JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour, GAS, June 17: (Semis on The High Banks) Semis, CVBT, Scrappers, July 1-2: (Firecracker 200 Weekend) GAS, CVBT, CVST, 602 Stocks, Legends, July 22: (Midwest Street Stock Battle and Late Models) GAS, CRA Street Stocks, CRA Late Model Sportsman, CVBT, Aug. 19: (Dollar Beer and Cruise In) GAS, CVBT, CVST, 602 Stocks, Scrappers, Sept. 9: (End of Summer 100) GAS, CVBT, CVST, Legends, Oct. 21-22: (Halloween 200 Weekend) Halloween 200, CVBT 200, CVST, MF8, 602 Stocks, Scrappers, Bloomington Speedway releases 2023 schedule. "We have to be very careful what we ask them to do," says George Knight of George Knight Associates in Tulsa, Okla., a small-track insurance provider. Find the History Mystery Man on social media! He actually maintained his sprint car, even after he won (Indy).. "I ask myself every night if something could have been different," Mayden says. With the deaths have come questions -- about track fencing, about uninspected cars, about supervision in restricted areas. 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. Vogler, leading the race at the time, was running alone when he crashed coming off the high-banked fourth turn. She never saw danger coming. There is also a Team Vogler Classic at the Indianapolis Speedrome. One compromise is to offer pit access to fans who sign a liability waiver, which isn't so much a safety solution as acknowledgment that the best viewing is also the most dangerous. They had a large family wedding in West L.A. Security, it seems, can get lost in the swirl. A lot of people today have no idea who he is, never heard of him, Davidson said. His 134 wins (95 Midget, 35 Sprint, and four Silver Crown wins) in national events is second only to A. J. Foyt's 169. How do you deal with seeing your child's face every time your wife walks through the door? He died the day after his sister, on his 10th birthday. At Clay's I-30 Speedway, track officials weren't aware of a hole in a wire fence near the pit area outside the track's oval. Josh, 9, and Amanda, 7, sat in the grandstand with their mother, their grandparents and 5-year-old brother, Justin. It had been there in my head and in my heart for a long time, she said. Sweikert returned to Hayward and opened his own small business, Sweikert Automotive, an automotive repair shop based out of his parents' garage. While completing the third lap, Sweikert was running near the outside wall in 4th place, side by side with his past teenage East Bay streets rival, Ed Elisian, in 5th. Find an obituary, get service details, leave condolence messages or send flowers or gifts in memory of a loved one. Wife of popular Wild 94.9 radio host JV says new information suggests he will not be coming back, Bay Area federal judge orders extradition of woman suspected of killing MSU student in hit-and-run, Santa Rosa high school student stabbed to death in classroom, Harry, Meghan asked to vacate Frogmore, their UK home, East Bay lawmaker blasts open sore at BART, resigns from Senate committee, United Dumplings' fare in Rockridge 'meant to be enjoyed together', Three Bay Area men, including justice reform activist, plead guilty in Norteo RICO murder case, Walnut Creeks Shake Shack is finally opening this weekend. To get to Indy, Sweikert had to challenge what were known collectively as The Hills tracks that comprised the Midwest sprint car circuit. This was his 170th win. Drivers, nursing accumulated grudges, satisfy them on and off the track. Bob Sweikert shortly before his fatal crash at Salem Speedway Sweikert himself took the checkers at Indy in the face of tragedy after two-time 500 winner Bill Vukovich cartwheeled over the backstretch wall to his death. Last edited on 17 December 2022, at 23:08, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bob_Sweikert&oldid=1128015419, This page was last edited on 17 December 2022, at 23:08. The tire hit a concrete barrier in front of the grandstand. January 22, 2023 (76 years old) View obituary. Your email address will not be published. "I have 200 fires to put out," track president Doug McManus says. I was 17 when I first started racing. In early 1948, he married Marion Edwards. After 1949 Sweikert became close friends with Johnny Boyd of Fresno, California when he met him on the California racing circuit. 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,. Racing but was replaced posthumously by Ted Musgrave. It will be a process of getting those done over the next several years. Floyd said plans were being made to fly Vogler to Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky., before he was pronounced dead. Sam was sitting on the driveway, Sweikert fought for custody of their young daughter. There in high school Bob met his future wife, Dorie.[2]. Send comments to [emailprotected]. pool that the 500-Mile-Race winner had built for his own children. The boys, only sons of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Tomlinson, had waiting patiently for the boys. Classes at Christ the King School were canceled for Josh and Amanda Dutton's funeral. From age 16 Sweikert worked after school as a mechanic at the local Ford dealership in Hayward. There are improvements that I want to make to the pavement, the pit area, lighting, infield concessions, infield restrooms and the scoreboard. Vogler, who would have been 40 on Thursday, raced in five Indianapolis 500s. Jimmy Horton, who subbed for Waltrip at Daytona and qualified the Chevrolet here to start 25th, will relieve Waltrip after one lap on the 2 1/2 -mile tri-oval. The challenge for speedway owners: How do you balance the counterweights of safety and intimacy? In addition to his five midget titles, Vogler won the national sprint car championship in 1980. Eight years later, 81 Speedway's owner seems to disagree. 4.3 out of 5 stars. [3] Former driver Nick Bohanon bought the racetrack in December 2022. Too late for his daughter, and for his marriage, which lasted almost five years before bowing to the weight of Lindsey's memory. She went back to California Last Name "Williams" Salem Speedway will be under new ownership for the 2023 racing season. On the first lap of the first race held at Salem, on June 22, 1947, Clay Corbitt locked wheels with Jack Schultz, went over the banking and was killed. Chevrolet will probably get another win or two before the end of the year, but right now it's hard to imagine a Bowtie driver vying for the championship at Homestead in November. Neighbors who learned of the accident called the sheriffs The race was red flagged and would never restart. The wheel, witnesses would say later, bounced through the unrepaired hole in the fence, then struck Baker above his right eye. In January 1953, Sweikert married his high school sweetheart, divorcee Dorie with her two children, with whom he had recently become reacquainted. Roger Bruce Hassing. Track inspections vary, as well. Morris Settles pronounced the boys dead. Sweikert's car, on the outside, brushed a piece of metal . On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 Sweikert ran his first race for prize money at the Oakland Speedway, and finished second. [2] Major auto racing series that run at Salem are ARCA and USAC . Create new account. As a sad, ironic twist, Sweikerts tragedy helped fuel After winning the55 Indy title, Sweikert began plotting his next move. Vogler was the National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing (NAMAR) midget champion in 1973. In 2018, Kody Swanson broke the all-time USAC Silvercrown record with his 24th series win at Salem. ), Complete USAC Mini-Indy (Formula Super Vee) Results, Last edited on 28 September 2022, at 18:41, Biography at the Rich Vogler Memorial Scholarship Fund, Driver profile Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, NASCAR Statistics at racing-reference.info, NASCAR Winston Cup results from July Pocono race, Rich Vogler Memorial Scholarship Fund webpage, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rich_Vogler&oldid=1112909876, This page was last edited on 28 September 2022, at 18:41. Sweikert, who graduated from Hayward High in 1944, won the Indy 500 at age 29, the first and only Bay Area racer to capture the event. Johnson's car, said C. Ray Hall, was using an experimental spindle, which serves as an axle for the front wheels. 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. Lindsey, who wanted to be a veterinarian and a midget car racer. It would do no good for anyone to tell Bob Sweikert to quit racing. Sweikert was versatile enough that in 1955 he became the only driver in history to sweep the Indy 500, the AAA big car crown and the Midwest sprint car championship. Sweikert then quit automotive repair and became a full-time driver. Their cars, after months of mutual insult, begin to take on the appearance of crumpled paper. Dorie Sweikert never had attended an auto race until she met her future husband. Such decisions are largely left up to speedways. "We don't want anybody killed, but we sure don't want our customers killed," says Lanny Edwards, owner of Devil's Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, one of thousands of small tracks dotting the country. Get up-to-the-minute news sent straight to your device. So what does Sabres GM Kevyn Adams do this week? The fencing had been laid in position on the ground and Sweikert "I still love to go to races," Cynthia says now. Marjorie Ann Bitter. Coming out of the 4th turn, the two cars started down the straightaway in front of the grandstand. 47K views, 969 likes, 76 loves, 119 comments, 367 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from History Mystery Man: Salem Speedway is one of the most iconic race tracks in America. 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