That was your job. In late 1944, Sweikert enrolled in the US Army Air Force, but suffered a severe knee injury while training at Lowry Field in Colorado. 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. Published In. Bob Sweikerts death in an auto race last June was reflected When I hit 30, I figured Id better quit.. Nobody covers Columbus, Indiana and the surrounding areas like The Republic. Speedway infield. ", But: "Everywhere I go, I check out their fence.". He was about to take the white flag for the final lap. 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. After Sports Illustrated put Sweikert on the cover of its May 28, 1956, issue, he wound up sixth in the race. He was only 30, leaving behind his wife Dolores and four children. Vogler was the National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing (NAMAR) midget champion in 1973. Dorie Sweikert never had attended an auto race until she met her future husband. Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 July 21, 1990) was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. Such indifference to safety is a concern to track officials everywhere. Eight years later, 81 Speedway's owner seems to disagree. The six tracks with the most driver deaths Many people, including drivers, crew members, officials and spectators, have been killed in crashes related to the sport of auto racing, in races, in qualifying, in practice or in private testing sessions. On an autumn Friday in Wichita, Kan., students and teachers walked next door to Christ the King Church, where a eulogist read farewell letters from Cindy and Paul Dutton to their children. Floyd said plans were being made to fly Vogler to Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky., before he was pronounced dead. Speedway. This was his 170th win. 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Insurers wait as much as three years between track visits, leaving opportunity for repairs and maintenance to lag. He said, I still cant relax. He said this was just one race. Tomlinson and his wife, who is expecting her third child in Eugene Gerber, bishop of Wichita's Roman Catholic diocese and a family friend, tried to console the mournful. Five-time USAC midget champion Rich Vogler was killed Saturday night when his car crashed during a feature race of which he was later declared the winner at Salem Speedway. In the winner's circle, Sweikert and Dorie celebrated with singer-actress Dinah Shore. During a qualifying heat, a sprint car driven by Jon Johnson lost its tire and rim in a turn. Usually, his mother and his sons appear at the annual fund-raiser. He was one of the good guys. He learned to race on go-karts at age 9, graduated to stock cars as an adult. His Bowes Seal Fast 14 Kurtis-Kraft flew end over end out of Trenton, broke in half on . Washington Township volunteer firemen and an Indianapolis fire department Both tracks also increased their fences' overhang. rescue squad rushed to the pool. 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. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 Sweikert ran his first race for prize money at the Oakland Speedway, and finished second. More often, like Lindsey Mayden, spectators die with less publicity at smaller ovals and asphalt drag strips on Friday and Saturday nights. at the bottom of the water. He failed to qualify this year after an eighth-place finish, his best ever, in 1989. For over 65 years Salem Speedway has enjoyed the recognition of being one of the most unique and renowned racetracks in America. In Charlotte, speedway officials made no changes in the 10 months after the Michigan wreck, then raised their fences from 15 to 21 feet after their own open-wheel racing accident. Follow Ken de . Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. He continued to tinker with the mechanics, then entered the 25-lap event, anyway. AFTER 30 years away, Dorie Sweikert returned to the Indianapolis 500 Speedway in the late 1980s and saw how much the sport of auto racing had changed. The .555-mile oval that features imposing 33-degree banks was built strictly for speed. She searched for nearly an hour before finding the tricycles TOLEDO, Ohio (Feb. 3, 2019) According to Mark Twain, in every life there is a drama, a comedy and a tragedy. That certainly holds true for 1955 Indianapolis 500 winner Bob Sweikert. Sweikert fought for custody of their young daughter. It bounded free down the small-track straightaway and into the pits, slamming off a car's hood and leaping, faster than fright, into the Salem (Ind.) Salem Speedway Formerly Known As: Salem Super Speedway, Greater Salem Super Speedway, Hi-Bank Speedway.555 mi./0.893 km. Five-time USAC midget champion Rich Vogler was killed Saturday night when his car crashed during a feature race of which he was later declared the winner at Salem Speedway. I know that sounds corny, but thats the way it was. The challenge for speedway owners: How do you balance the counterweights of safety and intimacy? Sweikert was pronounced dead upon arrival at Washington County Hospital. The fencing had been laid in position on the ground and Sweikert Send comments to [emailprotected]. The crash happened about 40 minutes earlier. backstretch wall to his death. The race was red flagged and would never restart. Sweikert was thrown from the car and was pronounced dead of head injuries upon arrival at Washington County Hospital. Salem Speedway. There was always the darkness the thing about Vukie.. Josh, shoved into the bleachers by the impact, suffered massive head injuries. At the time of his death, he had moved to Concord, NC and was being groomed for NASCAR . On September 26, 1953 Sweikert won the Hoosier Hundred, at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, a race which is chronicled by many as "the greatest race ever" run. It had been there in my head and in my heart for a long time, she said. On September 11, 1954 Sweikert became the first driver ever to average 90mph (140km/h) in a 100-mile (160km) race, with his win in the Lutes Truck Parts Special #17 car at the Eastern Speed Dome in Syracuse. 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. That grief gripped the loved ones of dozens of race car drivers in the 1950s. Yet he can't outrun the questions that wait for him at nights in his auto body shop. History [ edit] The names, logos, and other source identifying features of newspapers depicted in our database are the trademarks of their respective owners, and our use of newspaper content in the public domain or by private agreement does not imply any affiliation with, or endorsement from, the publishers of the newspaper titles that appear on our site. Tragically, Reece would lose his life on the last lap of the 100 Mile USAC National Championship race at Trenton Speedway on September 28, 1958. In 1947, Sweikert met his first wife, Marion Edwards, at a party at UCLA. He won the Fireman Nationals midget car race at Angell Park Speedway in 1985. Layton, Utah. No other cars were involved and no other injuries reported. Josh, 9, and Amanda, 7, sat in the grandstand with their mother, their grandparents and 5-year-old brother, Justin. There was kind of a machismo attached to it. Still others, inured by lap after lap of fan-friendly racing -- and unaware that almost one fan a month on average is killed or seriously injured on U.S. tracks -- think of spectator incidents as mere freak occurrences. Log In. He would make consecutive starts at Indy from then on, up until 1990. [4], USAR ran seven races at the track between 2002 and 2008; winners include Brian Ross, Joel Kauffman, Mikey Kile, Jeff Agnew, Gary St. The boys 33-year-old father arrived at the pool shortly [2] Major auto racing series that run at Salem are ARCA and USAC . 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. 2803 Obituaries. This event be an action packed weekend full of racing and fun. Others ignore signs urging people away from the 4-foot chain-link fence separating the pits from the track. Community See All. The following paragraphs have been transcribed from the Indianapolis There over the next couple years, he built his own track roadster. When they first started to use roll bars, traditionalists thought it was just awful. 4.3 out of 5 stars. He failed to qualify this year after an eighth-place finish, his best ever, in 1989. She figures it was a combination of factors, but mostly this: It was Bobs time to die, and he died.. Pit fencing, however, is rarely mandated. {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, Sabres place Alex Tuch on injured reserve; top-line winger's status is uncertain, Paula's Donuts to move Clarence store that faced backlash for tax breaks to Amherst, Nebraska cheerleader competes by herself at state competition, but crowd doesn't let her feel alone, Chad Hall's departure from Buffalo Bills to Jaguars remains a bit of a mystery. two months, went home while firemen worked. As firemen worked, the Rev. Learn how your comment data is processed. Marjorie Ann Bitter. "I could run to the first caution without any problem," Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion, said Saturday. "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. Bohanon, a Southern Indiana native, has raced on the famous High Banks of Salem Speedway and looks forward to shaping the tracks future. The following morning, in part because of Vogler's testimony, the penalty was overturned and Fittipaldi was credited with the runner-up position. Mrs. Sweikerts last order before leaving Indianapolis, the neighbors said, was that the fence be completed at once. [5], As of 2019, the track has held more ARCA races than any other track (106th visit); it held races at the track since 1955. For over 65 years Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery has enjoyed the recognition of being one of the most unique and renowned race tracks in America. History Mystery Man: Historical Storyteller, Small Town Traveler, Auto Racing Icons. 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. That car now resides in the Museum at the Indianapolis racetrack. That was Bobs favorite of the half-mile tracks, Dorie Sweikert said. Five-time USAC midget champion Rich Vogler was killed Saturday night after his car crashed during a feature sprint-car race at Salem Speedway of which he was later declared the. Such decisions are largely left up to speedways. LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Racing is returning to Salem, Indiana. waiting patiently for the boys. Sweikert's first chance at driving a Sprint car came next in 1949. Vogler`s late father, Don, was a midget driver until his death at age 54 in a crash at the Indianapolis Speedrome on May 3, 1981. Was the National Alliance of midget auto Racing series that run at Salem are and... Fly Vogler to Humana Hospital in Louisville, Ky. 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