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OCTOBER 4

1946
Barney Oldfield ... Died ... AAA driver from 1905 to 1918. He was the first man to drive a car at 60 miles per hour (96 km/h). His accomplishments led to the expression "Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield?" Oldfield was suspended by the AAA for his "outlaw" racing activities and was unable to race at sanctioned events for much of the prime of his career. Speed records, match races and exhibitions made up most of Oldfield's career. He was reinstated and he competed in the 1914 and 1916 Indianapolis 500, finishing fifth in each attempt but becoming the first person in Indianapolis history to run a 100 mile per hour lap. He was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in the inaugural 1989 class. In 1990, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.
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1947
Joie Chitwood won the 20 lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the Charlotte Speedway, Charlotte, NC.
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1952
Bobby Grim won the IMCA Sprint Car race at the Birmingham Int. Raceway, Birmingham, AL.
Jimmy Bryan won the 20 lap AAA Eastern Sprint Car race at the Charlotte Speedway, Charlotte, NC.
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1953
Jimmy Bryan won the AAA Eastern Sprint Car race over Tommy Hinnershitz at the Trenton International Speedway, Trenton, NJ.
Larry Crockett won the Joe James Memorial 50 lap AAA Sprint Car race at the Salem Speedway , Salem, IN.
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1954
Pat OConnor won the Joe James Memorial 50 lap AAA Sprint Car race at the Salem Speedway , Salem, IN.
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1958
Red Amick won the IMCA Sprint Car race at the Birmingham Int. Raceway, Birmingham, AL.
Tony Romit won the ARDC Midget race over Len Duncan and Bill Randall at the Danbury Fairgrounds, Danbury,CT.
Danny Oakes won the 100-lap USAC Midget race at the Gardena Stadium, Gardena,CA. George Amick was second followed by Earl Motter, Johnny Baldwin, Johnny Moorhouse, Johnnie Parsons, Gene Gurney, Johnnie Tolan, Tommy Copp and Bud Sterrett.
Gene Brown won the 50-lap CRA Sprint Car race at the Manzanita Speedway, Phoenix, AZ. Roy Prosser finished second followed by Ray Douglas, Parnelli Jones, Stan McElrath and Bob Mathauser.
Ralph Smith won the 100-lap HVARA Championship Stock Car race over Bud Marl, Ray Brown, Jim Delaney and Hank Stephan at the Orange County Fairgrounds, Middletown, NY.
Hank Rogers won the URC Sprint Car race at the Cleveland County Fair in Shelby, NC. Bert Brooks was second followed by Bob Harkey, Hal Rettberg and Vern Harriman.
Red Farmer won the 30-lap Sportsman-Modified race over Sam DiRusso, Ernie Reeves and Rod Perry at the Hollywood Speedway in Hollywood FL.
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1959
Gene Hartley won the Hut Hundred USAC Midget race over Bob Tattersall and Chuck Marshall at the Terre Haute Action Track , Terre Haute,IN.
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1963
Roger Sowers won the Super Modified race at the Hagerstown Speedway, Hagerstown,MD.
Ray Tilley won the Super Modified race over Roger Sowers, Neil Haight, Junior Ritchey and Dick Tobias at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1964
Roger Sowers and Bobby Abel won the Super Modified feature races at the Lincoln Speedway, Hanover,PA.
Rollie Beale won the Sprint Car race at the Eldora Speedway, Rossburg,OH.
George Sember won the Sprint Car race over Mack Clingan and Ron Anderson at the Sharon Speedway, Hartford, OH.
Mario Andretti won the Joe James/Pat O'Connor Memorial 100 USAC Sprint Car race at the Salem Speedway , Salem,IN. Don Branson finished second followed by Jud Larson, Dave Norris and Johnny Rutherford.
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1969
Bobby Allen won the PA State Championship Super Sprint Car race at the Lincoln Speedway , Hanover,PA. Ed Zirkle was second followed by Hal Browning, Steve Smith and Irvin King.
Mitch Smith won the Super Sprint Car race at the Port Royal Speedway, Port Royal,PA. Elmer Ruby was second followed by Steve Ungar, Lynn Geisler and Pete Swarmer.
Dick Tobias won the Sprint Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds, Reading, PA. Ray Tilley was second followed by Bobbie Adamson, Joe Kelly and Rick Schmelyun.
Ray Tilley won the Sprint Car race at the Reading Fairgrounds, Reading, PA. (from qualifying on 9/27/1969). Bobbie Adamson was second followed by Dick Tobias, Rick Schmelyun and Johnny Crawford.
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1970
Curtis Turner ... Died ... One of NASCAR's earliest starts and among its most controversial drivers....won 17 poles and 17 races in his career, which spanned 1949 through 1968....he won the fourth Winston Cup race of its inaugural season of 1949, then won 16 more, almost all of them during the '50s....he was suspended fron competition by NASCAR president Bill France, Sr. in 1960 because he tried to organize the drivers for the Teamsters Union...was the first president of the Charlotte Motor Speedway, and needed a loan from the Teamsters in 1960 to repay creditors....when France got wind of it, he banned Turner until late in the 1965 season. During the time that he was banned from NASCAR Turner raced in the USAC stock car series....he died in a plane crash in 1970.
Al Unser won the USAC sanctioned Golden State 100 on the 1 Mile Dirt Oval California State Fairgrounds in Sacramento, California. George Snider was second followed by Billy Vukovich Jr, Greg Weld and Roger McCluskey.
Karl Busson won the 100 lap USAC Sprint Car race over Rollie Beale, Larry Dickson, Jim Malloy and Sonny Ates at the Heidelberg Speedway (1/2p) , Pittsburgh,PA.
Smokey Snellbaker, in the Roy Morral # 880, won the Super Sprint Car race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA. Kenny Weld was second followed by Lynn Paxton, Ron Dunstan and Johnny Grum.
Jim Kirk won the ARDC Midget race at the Williams Grove Speedway, Williams Grove,PA.
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1975
Clark Templeman won the CRA Sprint Car race over Bob East, Walt Kennedy, Bobby Olivero and Lee Robison at the Ascot Park Speedway, Gardena,CA.
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1980
Sarah Fisher ... Born ... As a child, she raced quarter midgets and go-karts until she was a teenager, winning the 1991, 1993 & 1994 World Karting Association Grand National Championships, the 1993 Circleville Points Championship and the 1994 WKA Grand National Championship. From 1995–99, she raced in the sprint car and midget ranks, winning the 1995 Dirt Track Racing Round-Up Rookie of the Year award. She had a very successful career racing in the World of Outlaws. In 1997, she was named to the 62-race All-Stars Circuit of Champions series, earning a second place finish at Eldora Speedway. She held the track record at historic Winchester Speedway until it was broken by NASCAR driver Ryan Newman. In 1998, Fisher and her father and then-crew chief Dave Fisher sought out new challenges in the world of asphalt midget racing. She raced in ARCA, NAMARS and USAC sanctioned events, a competitive schedule that helped prepare her for life in the IRL. She signed a contract in 1999 to compete at the top level of open-wheel racing and qualified for her first Indianapolis 500 in May 2000 at age 19, creating a media frenzy much like the modern-day frenzy around rival Danica Patrick. FIsher was a pioneer in the early days of her career, setting a wealth of first's for women in motorsports but later fell from the ranks in 2004. She returned to the IndyCar Series in late 2006, ran full time in the series in 2007 and ran a limited schedule under her own umbrella, having founded her own race team in January 2008, Sarah Fisher Racing.
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1981
Darrell Waltrip won the NASCAR Winston Cup Holly Farms 400 over Bobby Allison at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, NC.
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1987
Terry Labonte won the NASCAR Winston Cup Holly Farms 400 over Dale Earnhardt at the North Wilkesboro Speedway, North Wilkesboro, NC.
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1992
Denny Hulme... Died ... A New Zealand car racer, the 1967 Formula One World Champion for the Brabham team. Hulme later went on to race for McLaren in Formula One, the Canadian-American Challenge Cup series, and at Indianapolis. Hulme competed in the Indianapolis 500 on four occasions: 1967, 1968, 1969, and 1971. His best results in the event were in 1967 and 1968, both times finishing fourth. He did not compete in the 1970 race, due to methanol burns to the hands after a fire during practice. A favourite event of Hulme's was the Bathurst 1000, held at the famous Mount Panorama track in Australia. In the 1992 event he was sharing a Benson & Hedges-sponsored BMW M3 with Paul Morris. After complaining of blurred vision Hulme suffered a massive heart attack at the wheel while travelling part the way down the 200-mph Conrod Straight. After veering into the wall on the left side of the track, he managed to bring the car to a relatively controlled stop sliding against the safety railing and concrete wall. When marshals reached the scene they found Hulme still strapped in, dead.
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1998
Mark Martin won the NASCAR Winston Cup UAW-GM Quality 500 over Ward Burton at the Lowe's Motor Speedway, Concord, NC.
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2001
Blaise Alexander ... Died ... Blaise was killed in a racing accident during the ARCA RE/MAX EasyCare 100 at the Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord, NC. Alexander had raced in several series during his career, including ARCA, NASCAR Busch and Truck Series.
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