Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
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Thirty years ago today, we lost Daryl Dawley and Roger Larson at Knoxville.

Remember my Father getting the call sometime Sunday from the late Floyd Matter explaining of a devastating frontstretch crash involving the two Champions.

Then Tom Savage getting on the PA at the then Jackson VFW Speedway that following Saturday and the solemn tone he used for us to take a moment for the drivers and their families. It shook the very core of even a young little kid like me to be able to understand the guys were not invincible after all and realizing this sport was not just fun anymore, it was serious.

Neither former Jackson Speedway Champion had done that much racing with us that season, but their seemingly legendary status was well known and not forgotten. The two were racing weekly in central Iowa as Dawley was on a two straight weekend winning streak with just having won the Knoxville Feature a week previous. Larson was in contention for a possible point Championship run by this night-standing 3rd in points and was just off a win at what used to be called Hartford Speedway three days earlier.

Even the PA Posse can claim Larson, he ran out there for much of a season in the mid 70s.

Dick Stoneking was lost two weeks later at Knoxville too. Can't say I recall of him or his racing, but nevertheless, thoughts extend to his family this month as well.

I can't believe it's been 30 years. I was there with my kids and friends both nights. It was a very tough year to be a sprint car fan. Thank God the cars and safety equipment are so much better now or last Saturday at Knoxville could have been much worse.

Wow, didn't realize it had been 30 years. I was not there that night but was stunned when I heard the news. And then "Stoney" Stoneking so soon after. I remember watching all 3 of them and that was just such a shocking couple of weeks.

It's great that people take the time to remember!! We sometimes forget that these great drivers left behind family and friends. It's not just a racing legacy that is left behind. Thanks michael 98a, somewhere today, someone is greatful for you remembering!!!

I too remember it well. I watched Dawley and Larson race many times at the old Hartford 1/2 mile and Jackson. I wondered how this could ever happen to guys from our area and why both of them. I was just a young lad and thought of Dawley as a bad ass racer and he did not care what his stuff looked like as long as it was fast. And Larson's stuff was car show quailty and polished. I read Wolfgangs book a couple years ago and had a hard time sleeping for a couple nights

after reading the chapter about that night.

That was a bad stretch for Knoxville. Five deaths in less than 3 years. Dawley, Larson, Stoneking, then Doug Toeppel (sp?) at a WoO show in 1981 and Gary Scott opening night 1982. The team owners told management after Scott was killed to put the wings on, or else most of the cars would not come back.

In those days I used to shoot photos during hot laps and time trials and went up to the stands to watch the races.

The best thing about race fans is that we never forget, even after 30 years we still remember Darryl and Roger.

Lee Johnson

For me, this was the start of a really dark period for sprint car racing.

Daryl Dawley was always one of my favorites...from Hartford to Jackson, Spencer Fair, Sioux Empire Fairgrounds, Knoxville...he was always raced clean and hard.

Then, June 14th 2010, will mark the 30th year of Joel Taylor's death at Jackson.

My parents business sponsored the team and it really hit us all hard, he was a fan favorite there and at Hartford. We occasionally ventured to Knoxville, Eldora and Manzanita; maybe some of you recall us towing the car there in our "Spirit Lake Bakery and Dudley's Krispy Chicken" Dodge maxi-van.

And after that was Gary Scott at Knoxville in the May of 1982, which was an equally difficult time for the sprint car racing community. I had gotten to know him and his wife Agnes quite well as they would come up for the Jackson Nationals every year previous.

Actually at that point, I started following late models more as it seemed that all of the sprint drivers I went there to watch or hang out with were gone...other than Doug Wolfgang...who by then was either at Knoxville or the WoO trail.

But I got to know late model drivers such as Dwaine Hanson, Bob Shryock, Bob Hill and Dennis Hovinga pretty well and they put on quite a show at tracks like Fairmont, Alta and Mason City.

Then, later, I got to work with Bob Hill at Harris Auto Racing and had Dwaine and Dennis as customers; so that was a enjoyable period. I also had several opportunities to increase driver safety awareness during those years, so that was rewarding.

I sure miss all of those drivers that are legendary to me. And although their lives ended tragically, I still remember the good times before it too.

Dear Mr Johnson,

Thanks for remembering Darryl and Roger after 30 years. I worked and raced with Darryl and Richard Giadone and was with him on that night. Your photo of Darryl's car is not the car of July 7th 1979, that car was destroyed in Minneapolis Minnesota. Richard and I were there that night also. The car Darryl lost his life in was a Lloyd Shores race car. It was all white with a clear coat frame. Thanks for the photos anyway.

Dan D. Everetts / Richard Giadone.

P.S. That sure was a long ride home to Sioux Falls SD without our best friend in the truck with us.

There was an incredible article in Open Wheel written by Tom Savage that I still read every year around this time.

Larsen and Dawley were incredible characters and drivers as well.

Dan;

You are absolutely correct, I went back through my negatives and found Darryl's shot was not in the correct sleeve, the photo is actually from 5/12/79.

I scanned the photos several months ago and misfiled it in with Rogers on the wrong date. Sorry about that.

I will never forget that Sunday morning. I was only 7 years old at the time but Roger Larson was my hero at that time. His business/shop was only 2 blocks from my house and I was always going there to see if they were working on his car.

Waking up that Sunday morning to have my mother tell me what happened the night before is something I will never forget.

The neat thing about darryl car it was a lloyd shores. I grew up with lloyd shores kid. They lived three houses down from my parents. The owners of darryl car was darryl family i think they came and order another lloyd shores chassis a week or so later. Lloyd shores build a safe car, as well as good pavement sprinter, midget and silver crown cars. Gary stanton, nance, all builds safe cars. I think the cars today are as safe if not safer then what lloyd, gary or nance build.

I am to young to have ever seen Roger or Darryl race.But from the stories I have heard from My dad and Uncle those two were DRIVERS,What they could do with there sprint cars was an amazing thing to watch,didn't matter who they raced against or at what track they raced at they raced clean and as hard as there machines would go.

We've lost to many racers over the years alot of them with alot more racing left in them and what they could have done or still be doing today.Like someone said on a message board.There has got to be one of the Greatests A features your ever gonna see in Heaven.

RIP ROGER AND DARRYL!!!

I remember when I first heard the news. I was at North Star Speedway just north of the Twin cities. They raced Sunday nights there. I think that is where Darryl Wrecked that car, the one in that picture above. It seem's to me he crashed on the frontstretch and hung it in the fence the week before he was killed. That is why is was so shocking to me, because I was thinking I just watched him race the week before. It didn't seem real. I remember getting a sick feeling in my stomach. I'm thinking I'm remebering this right , but that is a long time ago now and I was only twelve back then.

Being from Texas, I didn't get up to Knoxville often, but I did see them both race in Florida and @ Manzy. Darryl Dawley won one of the big A features one year in the 70's at the Florida Fairgrounds @ the Winter Nationals against the cream of the crop. They were both great drivers. That same year in Florida I remember Roger Larson ran out of tear offs and only had a small corner he could see out of his goggles so he kept it on the cushion, following the fence all of the way around. He kept passing cars, but had no idea where he was or really what he was doing. I'm pretty sure he won... but I don't think it was the A feature. Roger was in the Trostle house car in Tampa. Was he still in it at Knoxville?

Wasn't the flagman also killed in one of those horrific accidents? I was thinking it was the Dawley/Larson accident... but of course I could be completely wrong.

No the flagman wasn't killed..... The flagman was Gary Johnson he was injured two weeks later when Stonekings car hit the flagstand. Gary has been paralysed from the waist down since that accident. He lives in Prairie City,Iowa. I'am a track official and was working both those nights and still have a hard time of it when remembering those two nights.

I blieve the Lloyd Shores car that Darryl was driving was supposed to go Darryl's friend Robert Smith of Florida. Since Robert still had a car to race, he let Darryl have it and the memories began.

I went through all my negatives and here is Darryl in the Shores car on the night of the accident.

Lee Johnson

I've seen some real nasty stuff over the short 18 years I have been going to Knoxville and It's hard to imagine 2 drivers killed in the same accident. Were the cars just that unsafe at that time or was it just a fluke thing? The cars look basically the same accept for the seats have definately improved dramatically. And with the Stoneking accident which I've only heard about but have thought about it many times while at the races at Knoxville when watching the flagmen during a race, I could not imagine standing in a flagstand that hung out over the speedway at Knoxville. Our flagmen today (Clarks) have had a few scares sitting tucked behind the fence guarded by an I-beam & heavy fencing. It had to be very un-nerving to hang out over the track!

Was Roger Larson related to the driver Jud Larson that raced out East?