Statistically Speaking: Death at Daytona

It's an unpleasant side of the sport, but as the series rolls into Daytona International Speedway, racing fans should give their respects to those who lost their lives at the track.

In the history of motorsports, more than 3,000 drivers, mechanics, support staff and fans have died during races. The specter of death or serious injury is felt as much at Daytona as any other track in the world. In fact, in terms of competitor deaths, Daytona ranks fourth worldwide with 24 fatalities, tied with Le Mans in France, and behind Indianapolis Motor Speedway (56 fatalities), the Nurburgring in Germany (48), and Monza in Italy (30).

Serious injury and death have literally been a part of racing at Daytona since the track was first built. When the 2½-mile superspeedway opened in 1959 it was envisioned to become a multi-use facility, with stock cars, sports cars, and open wheel racers staging yearly events. The track was only a few days old, however, when it claimed its first life, forcing open wheel plans to be reassessed.

The track held its open house on Feb. 7, 1959. Marshall Teague was conducting a speed test four days later in a hybrid open wheel race car. In order to improve the aerodynamics of this machine, the wheels were covered with fenders, but essentially the chassis of his Sumar Special was a champ car like they ran at the Indy 500 in those days. Teague was familiar with the stock car drivers, having won seven NASCAR races in 23 starts, but he hadn't raced in that series since 1952.

Teague was attempting to make an assault on Tony Bettenhausen's closed circuit record of 177.04 mph, set at Monza in 1958. He had climbed as high as 171.82 in earlier tests and said he was just warming up, but this time when he topped the 160 mph mark, air got under his car and lifted it slightly. The Sumar Special literally flew to the bottom of Turn 1. When it hit the apron, the car began to flip. Teague was ejected and died of injuries suffered in the crash before even making the short trip to the hospital.

Two months later, tragedy struck the open wheel ranks again. George Amick set a qualifying speed of 176.89 mph for USAC's 100-mile race on April 4, 1959. On the final lap of that sprint, Amick was battling Bob Christie for third on the backstretch when he lost control of his car and slammed the wall at an estimated 190 mph. He died instantly.

In June 1960, Martin Every died in a private engineering test. Harold Haberling lost his life while practicing in a 1955 Chevrolet in preparation for the 250-mile support race for the 1961 Daytona 500. In 1969, Don MacTavish died during the running of the Sportsman race, and young superstar Billy Wade died in January 1965 at Daytona during a tire test.

In 1970, Talmadge Prince lost his life attempting to make the Daytona 500 when he crashed on lap 18 of the 125-mile qualifying race after blowing the engine of his Dodge. He slid sideways in front of the snarling pack and was broadsided by Bill Seifert. Prince died of a broken neck.

Raymond "Friday" Hassler was killed in a multicar crash in his qualifier for the 1972 Daytona 500, and Ricky Knotts died in the same event eight years later. Bruce Jacobi suffered life-threatening injuries in the 1983 Daytona 500 qualifier and lingered in a coma for four years before eventually succumbing to his injuries in 1987.

The list of those who died while racing continued to grow until the fateful 1994 season. That year, two drivers were killed while practicing for the Daytona 500.

Veteran Neil Bonnett was trying to stage a comeback from injuries sustained in the April 1990 running of the TranSouth 500 at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina. A hard crash in that race left Bonnett with amnesia and a bad concussion that would have ended the career of a lesser driver. Fueled by a strong desire to compete, however, he secured a six-race deal with car owner James Finch that was to start with the 500 in 1994. In the first practice session of the week, Bonnett blew a tire exiting Turn 4 and hit the wall head on, dying on impact.

While the racing world reeled from that tragedy, Rodney Orr was killed just three days later. He was attempting to leap up several divisions of competition after winning the 1993 Goody's Dash championship.

In 2000, the tragic scene shifted from Daytona to New Hampshire International Speedway when Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin were killed in separate accidents. Craftsman Truck Series driver Tony Roper died a short time later in a race at Texas Motor Speedway.

Drivers' and fans' nerves were frayed when the NASCAR season kicked off at Daytona in 2001. After losing three promising young drivers the season previous, this should have been a year for healing.

Instead, tragedy struck for a fourth time in less than a year, this time on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. Battling at the head of the pack on the final lap, Dale Earnhardt Sr. got turned into the outside retaining wall in Turn 4 and the sport lost one of its heroes. Earnhardt died immediately from injuries sustained in that wreck, which occurred in almost the same location his long-time friend Neil Bonnett crashed seven years earlier.