The boys 33-year-old father arrived at the pool shortly and the winner of the 1955 Indianapolis Motor Speedway classic and had built And there were sad ones. From age 16 Sweikert worked after school as a mechanic at the local Ford dealership in Hayward. 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. On Memorial Day, May 26, 1947 Sweikert ran his first race for prize money at the Oakland Speedway, and finished second. You have permission to edit this article. The Champion Racing Association (CRA) Super Series returns to the race track . Bob was raised through his early teen years with his older stepbrother, Ed, who enlisted in the US Navy, and then soon died in 1942, at the onset of World War II. When they first started to use roll bars, traditionalists thought it was just awful. ''I knew him well but we never talked about his father`s death. win at Indy, Vuky, who was leading when he crashed, would have been tough to The first major fund-raiser for the fund has been a Daytona 500 viewing party in Indianapolis, today well-attended with a silent auction and notable names in auto racing in the state as guests. "I'm happy to be in the front of the field, even if it's not on the pole.". There in high school Bob met his future wife, Dorie.[2]. two months, went home while firemen worked. Then came a June 17 sprint car race at Salem Speedway. Country Club golf course behind the Sweikert home. Drivers wore helmets basically made of reinforced cardboard and T-shirts soaked in Borax. Such indifference to safety is a concern to track officials everywhere. To get to Indy, Sweikert had to challenge what were known collectively as The Hills tracks that comprised the Midwest sprint car circuit. His death prompted another burst of outrage over the sports dangerous side. 19,772 people like this. Create new account. In the winner's circle, Sweikert and Dorie celebrated with singer-actress Dinah Shore. Always open. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. 1 most stressful city for workers in U.S. Turner: State takeover of Houston ISD could happen as soon as next week, Houston rap royalty Bun B on returning to Rodeo for another Takeover, 'Call me a Nazi': Former Houston-area pastor calls for state book ban. At smaller tracks, insurance companies are the primary arbiters of fence height and design. The good drivers werent immune. I definitely want to clean the place up, paint it, do something with the signage out front. their lives while wading in the pool behind Sweikerts house at 5301 Lancelot He actually maintained his sprint car, even after he won (Indy).. "It could have been a nightmare," the track's owner said then. When Vogler got word of Fittipaldi's penalty, he went up to USAC to testify for him, calling the penalty "unjust." A few races were canceled afterward, and there were calls from some quarters to ban the sport. Such is what Jeff Mayden believed before his daughter was killed. The boys, only sons of Mr. and Mrs. Harold Tomlinson, had Follow Ken de . Finishing first among the survivors was a young driver from Pittsboro, Indiana, named Jeff Gordon. 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. A racecar moves around the track at Salem Speedway. It was completed about the time He'd heard the track was going to build a fenced playground in the infield in Lindsey's honor, but those plans went unrealized. She married again six years ago, but in 1998 published Along for the Ride A Love Story. The book is a personal, poignant and sometimes painful look back on her time with Bob Sweikert. Donald Davidson, historian for the Indianapolis 500, said Sweikert is highly regarded among those familiar with the sports heritage. [1] The track closed in May 1995 when he declared bankruptcy. three weeks ago to make her home. Forgot account? 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. Sweikert's first chance at driving a Sprint car came next in 1949. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich". At least 70 have been injured, some suffering life-altering afflictions, including a Florida father of three now living in a New Jersey home for people with brain damage. Pit fencing, however, is rarely mandated. [1] Owen and Beverly Thompson bought the track and reopened it in 1996 after adding a new building, redoing the grandstand seating to a new capacity of 6000 people, and renovating the pits. Vogler made his first start in Indianapolis 500 participation in 1985 where he drove the #60 Patrick Racing/KFC car to a 23rd-place finish. He won the midget car track championships at the Indianapolis Speedrome in 1984 and 1985. In May 1952, Sweikert ran his first "Indy 500" race. Street, and Edward Karsch, 3470 North Meridian Street, who were on the Broadmoor "The insurance never determined what happened," says Clay, who said he doesn't know the path the wheel took. 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. Among the 33 drivers who started the 1955 Indy 500 won by Sweikert, 16 eventually were killed in accidents on the track. They are. For Dorie Sweikert, the loss never really went away. He had that charisma.. He said, I still cant relax. He said this was just one race. Log In. Please subscribe to. Handsome, charismatic, courageous, smart, successful, and on top of the world, Sweikerts life ended in tragedy when his yellow No. Sweikerts car flew over the outside wall, through a photographers booth and crash-landed in a weed patch. Racing close with Elisian, both cars pushed high. SALEM - Salem Speedway is set to host the 33rd Halloween 200 from Oct. 22-24. At 5 p.m. their mother, Mrs. Marie Tomlinson, 32, began He was one of the good guys. Fifty years later, her memories of those days paint a picture of the entire experience. priest, took them word that the boys were dead. This was the Kansas City Speedway, a 1.25-mile oval with turns banked 35 degrees. But there are those who think he adapted to the track as well as anybody. Keep reading with unlimited digital access. He is buried at Lone Tree Cemetery in Fairview, California.[3]. When I hit 30, I figured Id better quit.. Carol Ann Williams. But he liked to race on them.. He was awarded a 40th-place finish (as a "Did Not Start").[6]. He had reached the first pinnacle, but not the pinnacle, recalled Dorie Sweikert, his wife at the time. Hayward's Bob Sweikert was one of 16 driversamong the 33 who started the 1955 Indianapolis500 who would be killed in racetrack accidentsover the next 11 years. With months to heal and the war over, he was honorably discharged in September 1945. How do you deal with seeing your child's face every time your wife walks through the door? Added to the dangerous equation were tracks of all variety that drivers had to tackle in order to reach their primary destination Indianapolis. "The spindle just locked up and came off," he remembers. tragedy after two-time 500 winner Bill Vukovich cartwheeled over the "There's no way to stay ahead of these drivers.". It is, perhaps, racing's worst fear: a car or its disconnected parts hurtling over fences into fans. A good Sunday was when every driver cheated death and went home alive.. Ostapenko and Karsch removed the boys from the water. His "Indy 500" win was over-shadowed by the fatal crash of two-time winner Bill Vukovich during the race earlier that day. 1 sprint car, just one year after he won the worlds most famous race, tumbled over the turn one wall at Salem Speedway. 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. Bohanon, a Southern Indiana native, has raced on the famous High Banks of Salem Speedway and looks forward to shaping the tracks future. Its like Iraq its that kind of grief.. Vogler was declared the winner when officials decided not to complete the the 30-lap event. 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. 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. He won numerous major national events: the Hut Hundred eight times, the 4-Crown Nationals midget car event four times, the Copper Classic twice, the Hoosierdome Invitational twice, the WWRA Florida Winter Nationals in 1983, and the Night Before the 500 once. Still nursing the leg injury, Waltrip plans to make his milestone start today in the NASCAR AC Spark Plug 500 at Pocono International Raceway. She is one of 29 spectators since 1990 to be killed by cars or their flying parts at U.S. auto racing events. He walked over to his father`s car, looked in and then walked away. On February 12, 1949 Sweikert won the first BCRA Indoor Midget Race Track championship, in Oakland, on the new 1/12 mile oval track. Vogler was declared the winner when officials decided not to complete the 30-lap event. [3], Vogler finished seventeenth in his only NASCAR Busch Series start at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham in 1988.[4]. Vogler, leading the race at the time, was running alone when he crashed coming off the high-banked fourth turn. Sweikert was pronounced dead upon arrival at Washington County Hospital. hunting for them, to call them to supper. He gained his first racing sponsorship in July 1947, when he became a track roadster race driver for Hubbard Auto Parts of Oakland. On September 17, 1922 Roscoe Sarles, a respected racer with six AAA feature wins and four starts at Indy, broke a steering knuckle on his Durant, tangled with Pete 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. Was that what went wrong? Both tracks also increased their fences' overhang. CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- The wheel came off in Turn 2, snapped from its axle in a two-car collision. "He would be going if it were me that died. The banks were spooky. Yard of Sweikert Home. His Bowes Seal Fast 14 Kurtis-Kraft flew end over end out of Trenton, broke in half on . He ran seventy-two races that first BCRA season, finishing 14th out of 130 active members in the annual point standings. ''They were both at the track practicing. In addition to his five midget titles, Vogler won the national sprint car title in 1980 and 1989. 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