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JULY 7

1906
Johnny Matera ... Born ... AAA driver from the 1930's and 40's.
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1928
Cotton Farmer ... Born ... IMCA and USAC driver from the 1950's and 60's.
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1936
Eldon Rasmussen ... Born ... A former Canadian driver in the USAC Championship Car series. He raced in the 1971 and 1973-1979 seasons, with 23 career starts, including the 1975, 1977, and 1979 Indianapolis 500. His Indy career was unremarkable except for a single moment on lap 125 of the 1975 race: Tom Sneva, attempting to lap Rasmussen, ran over his left front wheel and was launched into the Turn 2 wall, exploding and disintegrating before tumbling to a stop. The spectacular nature of the accident, and the fact that Sneva miraculously escaped serious injury, have led to its being constantly replayed on television and becoming one of the iconic images of the race. Rasmussen's image is therefore familiar to nearly every fan of the Indy 500, even though his name might not be. In his Champcar career, Rasmussen finished in the top ten 3 times, with a best finish in 7th position in 1975 at Ontario. He built his own race chassis which he dubbed the "Rascar" which he campaigned with limited success from 1973 to 1979. In all 3 of his Indy starts, Rasmussen qualified his Rascar on the last row. Eldon Rasmussen has been a fabricator of race parts in Indianapolis for years and was inducted into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame.
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1941
Mike Hiss ... Born ... A former driver in the USAC Championship Car series. He raced in the 1972-1976 seasons, with 28 career starts, including the Indianapolis 500 in 1972-1975. He finished in the top ten 13 times, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1972 at Ontario. His 7th place finish at Indy in 1972 earned him the title of Rookie of the Year. In 1978, at the Indy 500, Mike Hiss qualified a Penske Racing Cosworth for Mario Andretti, who was racing Formula 1 during qualification weekends.
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1946
Steve Krisiloff ... Born ... A former driver in the USAC and CART Championship Car series. He raced in the 1969-1979, 1981 and 1983 seasons, with 111 combined career starts, and started in the Indianapolis 500 all but 1969-1970. He finished in the top ten 46 times, with his best finish in 2nd position in 1978 at Phoenix. After racing, he served from 1984-1995 as Vice-President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and later as the Team Manager for Patrick Racing and assistant team manager for PKV Racing until 2006. Steve is the father of NASCAR driver Kyle Krisiloff, who has raced in the Busch and Craftsman Truck Series. Krisiloff currently is the team manager for Carl A. Haas Motorsports where his son Kyle Krisiloff drives the #14 Ford Fusion with Clabber Girl sponsorship. Tony George, CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Corporation and founder of the Indy Racing League and Vision Racing, is his former brother-in-law.
Ted Horn won the AAA Championship race on the 1 mile dirt Lakewood Speedway in Atlanta, Georgia.
Duane Carter won the 25 lap Midget feature race over Ted Duncan and Joe Garson at the Soldier Field, Chicago, IL.
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1950
Russ Lee won the IMCA Sprint Car race at the Brandon Exhibition Grounds, Brandon, MT.
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1952
Stan Fox ... Born ... The Wisconsin native was one of America’s top midget pilots for more than 20 years. He won the 1979 Badger Midget Series title and went on to a successful USAC career that included 19 wins. Among his victories are the Belleville Nationals (twice), Turkey Night Grand Prix, 4-Crown Nationals and Copper World Classic (twice). Fox, who raced in eight Indianapolis 500s, was seriously injured during the 1995 Indy 500 and never raced competitively again. Fox is a member of the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame. Fox was killed in an automobile accident in New Zealand in 2000.
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1956
Tommy Hinnershitz won the USAC Sprint Car race at the Allentown Fairgrounds, Allentown,PA.
Lou Johnson won the URC Sprint Car race at the Flemington Fair Speedway, Flemington,NJ.
Nick Fornoro won the ARDC Midget race at the Old Dominion Speedway, Manassas,VA.
Billy Cantrell won the URA Midget race at the South Mountain Speedway, Phoenix, AZ.
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1957
Bill Randall won the ARDC Midget race at the Hatfield Speedway, Hatfield,PA.
Cotton Farmer won the IMCA Sprint Car race at the Miles City Fairgrounds, Miles City,MT.
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1961
Bobby Grim won the USAC Midget race at the Boyd's Speedway, Ringgold,GA.
Roger Sowers won the Super Modified race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1962
Ray Brown won the ARDC Midget race at the Danbury Fairgrounds, Danbury,CT.
Gordon Woolley won the Sprint Car race at the Knoxville Raceway, Knoxville,IA.
Bobby Hersh won the Super Modified race at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA.
Colby Scroggin won the CRA Sprint Car race at the Manzanita Speedway, Phoenix,AZ.
Art Bennett won the Super Modified race over Dave Paul, Nolan Swift, Gordon Johncock and Nelson Ward at the Oswego Speedway, Oswego,NY.
Jackie McLaughlin won his 5th in a row and 7 for the season Modified Stock Car race at the Flemington Fairgrounds Speedway, in Flemington NJ. Al Tasnady was second followed by Bob Pickell, Sammy Beavers and Bud Olsen.
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1963
Joy Fair won the Super Modified race at the Sandusky Speedway, Sandusky,OH.
Hank Jacoby won the Sprint Car race over Steve Ungar and Jim Seese at the Sharon Speedway, Hartford, OH.
Bobby Gerhart won the Super Modified race at the Susquehanna Speedway, Newberrytown,PA. Gene Goodling was second followed by Leroy Felty, Willie Musselman and Bucky Gulifoy.
Roger McCluskey won the USAC Sprint Car race over Chuck Hulse, Bobby Marshman, Bob Harkey and Mickey Shaw at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1967
Dick Gaines won the Sprint Car race over Don Nordhorn and Sheldon Kinser at the Bloomington Speedway, Bloomington,IN.
Bobby Allen won the Sprint Car race over Kenny Weld and Bobby Abel at the Dorsey Speedway, Dorsey,MD.
Johnny Coy won the ARDC Midget race at the Hershey Stadium, Hershey, PA.
Greg Weld won the USAC Sprint Car race over Rollie Beale, Chuck Booth, Sammy Sessions and Mike Mosley at the Lakeside Speedway (1/2d), Kansas City, KS.
Bobbie Adamson won the Super Sprint Car race over Bobby Gerhart, Milt Miller, Johnny Crawford and Gene Varner at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1968
A.J. Foyt drove his Coyote-Foyt to victory in the Rocky Mountain 150 USAC Championship race on the 2.66 Mile Road Course Continental Divide Raceway, Castle Rock, CO. Lloyd Ruby was second followed by Jim Malloy, Al Unser and Art Pollard.
Mark Donohue drove his Roger Penske Camaro to an easy victory in the SCCA Trans-Am race on the 3.27 mile Meadowdale International Raceway in Carpentersville, Illinois. The only time Donohue gave up the lead was when he made his pit stop in the 250 mile event. Peter Revson finished nearly a lap behind in an AMC Javelin and Sam Posey, in a second Penske Camaro, finished 2 laps back in 3rd after starting 20th following a practice crash.
Ace Duncan won the CRA Sprint Car race at the Cajon Speedway, San Diego,CA.
Bruce Walkup won the USAC Sprint Car race over Larry Dickson, Greg Weld, Wib Spaulding and Cy Fairchild at the Dayton Speedway, Dayton,OH.
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1972
Rick Ferkel won the Super Sprint Car race over Lynn Paxton and Buddy Cochran at the Bedford Speedway, Bedford,PA.
Johnny Coy won the Bob Wilkey Memorial ARDC Midget race at the Grandview Speedway - Bechtelsville,PA. Wayne Woodward was second followed by Jack Rabold, Jim Maguire and Jim Fearick.
Paul Pitzer won the Super Sprint Car race over Lee Osborne, Johnny Grum, Kenny Weld and Steve Smith at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1974
Lee Osborne won the USAC Sprint Car race over Tom Bigelow, Bill Puterbaugh, Bruce Walkup and Chuck Gurney at the Penn National Speedway, Grantville,PA
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1979
Greg Leffler won the USAC Sprint car race at the Illiana Motor Speedway, Schererville,IN.
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1990
Dale Earnhardt won the NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 over Alan Kulwicki at the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, FL.
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2000
Kenny Irwin, Jr. ... Died ... He was a NASCAR stock car driver. He had driven in all three major of forms of NASCAR and had two total victories. Before that, he raced in the United States Auto Club against Tony Stewart who was one of his fiercest rivals. He died as a result of injuries suffered in a crash during a practice session at New Hampshire International Speedway.
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2001
Dale Earnhardt Jr. won the NASCAR Winston Cup Pepsi 400 over Michael Waltrip at the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, FL.
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2007
Jamie McMurray won the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Pepsi 400 over Kyle Busch at the Daytona International Speedway, Daytona, FL.
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