The Tragedies of NASCAR

February, followed by January, are historically the worst months in terms of tragedies that befall NASCAR drivers and fans. The years 1964 and 1965 were especially tragic. Overall, however, considering the number of races, cars and drivers, the sport has a pretty impressive safety record, particularly in later years.

1956 June 3   Herb Thomas wheels a DePaolo Engineering Ford to victory at West Memphis Speedway, halting the 16-race win streak by the Kiekhaefer team. Two drivers, Clint McHugh and Cotton Priddy, are killed in accidents during the race weekend.

1964 January 19   Dan Gurney laps the filed and easily wins the Riverside 500. Joe Weatherly, two-time defending NASCAR Grand National champion, loses his life when he crashes into a concrete wall in the late stages.

1964 May 24   Jim Paschal wins Charlotte's World 600 to post his first career super speed-way victory. The event is tragic, however, as NASCAR great Fireball Roberts is near death after a fiery pile-up on the eight lap.

1965 January 5    Billy Wade is killed during a tire test at Daytona. Wade had replaced the late Joe Weatherly on the Bud Moore Mercury team and had become the first driver to win four NASCAR Grand National events in a row.

1965 January 17   Road-racing expert Dan Gurney wins his second straight 500-miler at Riverside International Raceway. The race is marred by the death of a 20-year old spectator, who was crushed when a forklift overturned in the infield. Three other spectators were injured.

1965 February 28   Richard Petty loses control of his 1965 Plymouth Barracuda drag car at a drag strip in Dallas, Georgia. The car veers into a group of spectators, killing an eight-year old boy.

1970 February 19   Cale Yarborough and Charlie Glotzbach win the Twin 125-mile qualifiers at Daytona. Rookie Talmadge Prince is fatally injured in a 19th-lap crash in the second qualifier.

1989 November 19   Dale Earnhardt romps to an overwhelming victory in the season-ending Atlanta Journal 500 as Rusty Wallace wraps up his first NASCAR Winston Cup title with a 15th place finish. Wallace nips Earnhardt by 12 points in the final tally. Veteran driver Grant Adcox is killed in a 202nd-lap crash.

1991 August 11   NASCAR driver J.D. McDuffie is killed in an accident during the Budweiser at the Glen Winston Cup race at Watkins Glen, N.Y.

1992 August 13   Three days before the Champion 400 at Michigan International Speedway, 27 year old Clifford Allison—son of Bobby and younger brother of Davey—is killed during a practice run.

1994 February 11   Veteran driver Neil Bonnett loses his life in a practice crash at Daytona International  Speedway in preparation for the upcoming Daytona 500. Bonnett's Chevrolet breaks loose in the fourth turn and slaps the wall nearly head-on.

1994 February 14   Three days after Bonnett's crash (the day of his funeral, in fact), 31 year old rookie driver Rodney Orr dies from injuries sustained in a practice run crash at Daytona.

1997 January 11   NASCAR truck series driver John Nemechek, the 27 year old younger brother of Winston Cup driver, Joe, dies from serious head trauma during an accident at Homestead, Fla.

2000 May 12   NASCAR driver Adam Petty, 19, is killed after his car spins out and crashes into the wall in Turn 3 at New Hampshire International Speedway in Loudon, N.H. A fourth-generation NASCAR driver (along with great-grandfather, Lee, grandfather, Richard, and father, Kyle), Petty was practicing for a Busch series race the following day.

2000 July 7   Eight weeks to the day after Adam Petty's crash, NASCAR Winston Cup driver Kenny Irwin is killed in the same turn on the same race track in Loudon, N.H., during practice for the thatlook.com 300.

2000 October 13   NASCAR Craftsman Truck series driver Tony Roper, 35, dies in a crash during the O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway in Ft. Worth, Texas.

2001 February 18   Michael Waltrip nips Dale Earnhardt Jr., at the finish line to win the Daytona 500, a tragic affair in which NASCAR icon Dale Earnhardt is fatally injured in a last-lap crash. Waltrip's first NASCAR Winston Cup victory turns from a joyous occasion to despair after the loss of NASCAR's most dynamic competitor.