Vogler, who would have been 40 on Thursday, raced in five Indianapolis 500s. Robert Charles Sweikert (May 20, 1926 June 17, 1956) was an American racing driver, best known as the winner of the 1955 Indianapolis 500 and the 1955 National Championship, as well as the 1955 Midwest Sprint car championship - the only driver in history to sweep all three in a single season. Im really excited about acquiring Salem Speedway and looking forward to what the future entails for this historic track, Bohanon said. The Indianapolis 500 was part of the FIA World Championship from 1950 through 1960. 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. "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. Handsome, charismatic, courageous, smart, successful, and on top of the world, Sweikerts life ended in tragedy when his yellow No. It was a time before safety thats just the way it was, said Steven Levinson, a semi-retired attorney and amateur auto racing historian, who grew up in Indianapolis in the 1940s and 50s. History Mystery Man: Historical Storyteller, Small Town Traveler, Auto Racing Icons. Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 July 21, 1990) was an American champion sprint car and midget car driver. win at Indy, Vuky, who was leading when he crashed, would have been tough to 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. 4.3. Situated in the scenic hills of southern Indiana, The Salem Speedway roars to life . This page was last edited on 23 December 2014, at 08:46. Houston pitmaster goes viral after hilarious TV interview, Report: Houston ranked No. But there are those who think he adapted to the track as well as anybody. a ride on their tricycles late in the afternoon. Sweikert's first chance at driving a Sprint car came next in 1949. Foremen worked for an hour and a half before Deputy Coroner [1][3] Vogler had 170 total USAC wins, and won over 200 "outlaw" (non-USAC) midget races. Its like Iraq its that kind of grief.. The event at one of the iconic short tracks in the county is being . LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Racing is returning to Salem, Indiana. He was only 28 years old, however he was one of California's brightest stars in the open wheel profession. 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. "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. Bradway died from injuries suffered in a tragic sprint car crash during the Super Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway in Washington State on June 21, 1987. 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. Most race fans don't. Of course, it saved a lot of lives.. Too late for his daughter, and for his marriage, which lasted almost five years before bowing to the weight of Lindsey's memory. But Dorie didnt believe it would happen to Sweikert. RACE CAR driver Bob Sweikert celebrates his win in the 1955Indianapolis 500 with his wife, Dorrie. Not all would race The Hills. Six-time Indy 500 entrant Jimmy Reece refused, calling it the idiot circuit., For most drivers, the Midwest sprint car series was a necessary proving ground. They had a large family wedding in West L.A. Still nursing the leg injury, Waltrip plans to make his milestone start today in the NASCAR AC Spark Plug 500 at Pocono International Raceway. The tragedy brought complaints from neighbors about the open He won 1 race and accumulated a total of 8 championship points. Sweikert was born in Los Angeles, California. Forgot account? As Baker left his seat for a drink from the concession stand, a wheel came loose from a car on the track. The sprint car flew over the edge of the track, down the embankment, and landed a hundred feet below, where it briefly burst into flames. 1,476 check-ins. You go to Salem, and you go home a widow. As firemen worked, the Rev. "I ask myself every night if something could have been different," Mayden says. [1] He competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, and his best finish was eighth in 1989. Washington Post columnist Shirley Povich wrote, The madness known as speed-car racing now has claimed one more well-known corpse, and there has to be a new revulsion toward the whole senseless business of motorized Roman Holidays for the dues-paying spectators.. Track officials voiced the same hesitance. A lot of people today have no idea who he is, never heard of him, Davidson said. He was leading the race at the time, when his car crashed with just over a lap to go. 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. (key) (Bold Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Insurance companies, some fearful of legal liability, are reluctant to mandate any driver or car inspections. Sam, their police dog, trotted beside them. Ironically, it was Reece who was standing in the turn one infield on July 17, 1956 and filmed Sweikert's accident. In 2008, the viewing party was moved to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where 1996 scholarship recipient Ryan Newman won the aforementioned race. His "Indy 500" win was over-shadowed by the fatal crash of two-time winner Bill Vukovich during the race earlier that day. Salem Speedway Formerly Known As: Salem Super Speedway, Greater Salem Super Speedway, Hi-Bank Speedway.555 mi./0.893 km. Lindsey, who wanted to be a veterinarian and a midget car racer. He gained his first racing sponsorship in July 1947, when he became a track roadster race driver for Hubbard Auto Parts of Oakland. The track has 33 degrees of banking in the corners. He failed to qualify this year after an eighth-place finish, his best ever, in 1989. He won the midget car track championships at the Indianapolis Speedrome in 1984 and 1985. Mrs. Sweikerts last order before leaving Indianapolis, the neighbors said, was that the fence be completed at once. Tony Floyd, an ambulance medic for the hospital, described the 39-year-old Vogler as having a "severe head injury." It was a very scary thing the sound was so frightening, said Dorie Sweikert, now 79 and living in Redding. About. Italics Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. pool and its lure for children. Dr. Dan Anderson pronounced Vogler dead at 11:40 p.m. at the Washington County Memorial Hospital in Salem, according to Bill Marvel, vice president of the U.S. Auto Club. Such decisions are largely left up to speedways. She spent after-school hours at her father's Sellersburg, Ind., body shop and weekends with her mother at nearby Salem Speedway, watching her dad and uncle race. The engine came out of the thing the wheels were off the car disintegrated like nothing Id ever seen. After Sweikert was buried in California his widow returned 2803 Obituaries. "It could have been a nightmare," the track's owner said then. "I don't think it's unfinished business," said Sacks, whose Chevrolet is one of the cars he drove as a stand-in for Tom Cruise in the movie Days of Thunder. A grim reminder of the darkness of the board-track era of the 1920s. "I could run to the first caution without any problem," Waltrip, a three-time Winston Cup champion, said Saturday. Salem Speedway is a .555 miles (0.893km) long paved oval racetrack in Washington Township, Washington County, near Salem, Indiana, United States, approximately 100 miles (160km) south of Indianapolis. Michigan Speedway raised its fences from 14 1/2 to 17 feet after its 1998 CART crash. * Most laps led. Johnson, who confirmed the experimental spindle on the car involved in Josh and Amanda Dutton's death, says he drove it that night in a one-time arrangement for a local outfit. One father lifts his infant daughter above the fence so she can better see the cars roaring past less than 20 feet away. First there was the business of trying to defend his Indy 500 title. SALEM - Salem Speedway is set to host the 33rd Halloween 200 from Oct. 22-24. three weeks ago to make her home. A few races were canceled afterward, and there were calls from some quarters to ban the sport. Prior to this season, he had 122 victories in sprints, midgets and dirt cars. He was scheduled to make his NASCAR Winston Cup (now NASCAR Cup Series) series debut at Pocono Raceway the day after his fatal crash. Vogler, who was leading the event at the time and was about to take the white flag signaling one lap to go, hit head on with the turn 4 wall, violently throwing tires, Vogler's helmet, and other pieces of Vogler's car all over the track. ". priest, took them word that the boys were dead. It opened in 1947; two drivers were killed on the first lap of the first race. Michaels Catholic Church, arrived and gave last rites. Not now. 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. 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,. Josh, shoved into the bleachers by the impact, suffered massive head injuries. [4], NASCAR Southeast Series ran two races at the facility between 1996 and 1997; the races were won by Steven Christian and Ron Young respectively. 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. Usually, his mother and his sons appear at the annual fund-raiser. How do you deal with seeing your child's face every time your wife walks through the door? in a second tragedy yesterday when two small brothers were drowned in the swimming another. 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Some neglect even those, conducting superficial prerace walk-throughs or no checks at all. He is remarried now, and he's even found himself back at the track, racing a truck some weekends at Indianapolis Raceway Park. There were exciting, happy, even playful moments, she said. Veda wrote many racing articles. USAC, however, did not see Vogler waive Fittipaldi by, and, as a result, they penalized Fittipaldi two laps. The crash happened about 40 minutes earlier. Salem is a track steeped in history with many of the giants in auto racing having competed on the treacherous hills at some point in their careers, Names such as Ruttman, Carter, Sweikert, OConnor, Jones, Foyt, Unser, Andretti, Vogler, Allison, Parsons, Waltrip, Schrader, Gordon and Stewart are just a few names from the past that grace the list of past winners. Ostapenko and Karsch removed the boys from the water. At smaller tracks, insurance companies are the primary arbiters of fence height and design. Learn More He died the day after his sister, on his 10th birthday. Last year he won 16 of the 33 races en route to his fifth championship. On the morning of his June 17 race at Salem, Dorie Sweikert recalled her husband complaining his car wasnt handling quite right. They are. Six days before, on Sept. 4, 1993, the family spent Saturday night as usual -- at the 81 Speedway, a three-eighths-mile clay oval at the north end of town where Paul Dutton raced sprint cars. She died five hours later, early the next day. He died a week later. The .555-Mile oval that features imposing 33-degree banked turns was built strictly for speed. 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. 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. I had a son who was killed in a crash as well.''. In 1988, Vogler was running 20+ laps down in the race when he waived his position to former Formula 1 champion Emerson Fittipaldi. Perhaps in part because Bob Sweikert refused to accept fear, Dorie convinced herself he was safe from harm. 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. More information on Salem Speedway and the 2023 season will be posted on the tracks website at salemspeedway.com and with social media posts on the tracks Facebook page. Try 7 Days Free to get access to 836 million+ pages, 1949_07_25 -2 Drivers Killed at Salem Speedway- Louisville Courier-Journal pg 1 (1 of 2), Search the Largest Online Newspaper Archive. Drive. Drivers, nursing accumulated grudges, satisfy them on and off the track. 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