Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Don't take this as tasteless, but more on the celebration of life for the drivers doing what the loved.

I was wondering what people would be able to contribute in regards to drivers who lost their lives while racing at Eldora.

Personally, I was in attendance for the following:

Jimmy Johnston; Lima, OH April 2002

John Bankston; Beaumont, TX August 2001

Bill Nicely (sp) Cincinnati, OH date unknown

Others?

Here's some info from www.motorsportmemorial.org:

John Bankston
Death date: 02.Aug.2001
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Carl Bergkvist
Death date: 21.Oct.1973
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Bill Knisley
Death date: 02.Oct.1999
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Jimmy Johnston
Death date: 06.Apr.2002
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Jimmy Smith
Death date: 20.Sep.1970
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Mickey Shaw
Death date: 27.Jul.1969
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Jack Clark
Death date: 26.Jul.1964
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

David West
Death date: 08.May.1977
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Carol Howell
Death date: 02.Sep.1956
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Ron Barber
Death date: 20.Oct.1974
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Roy Young
Death date: 08.Jun.1969
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Hob Noel
Death date: 12.Oct.1964
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Arnold Dunaway
Death date: 26.Jul.1957
Circuit: Eldora Speedway

Visit the website www.motorsportmemorial.org for more. There's a ton of information out there...not always easy to find but lots of it.

Wow! Ten + years since Johnny Bankston passed. John was a friend and a passionate racer. I was working about 2 hours away from Eldora at the time and planned on attending this race. My Supervisor, at the last minute ask me to work overtime making it impossible for me to attend. I fussed but he insisted and therefore I was not there to witness his death. How fortunately for me that I was asked to work over. To witness a racers death or serious injury is the very dark side of our great sport. RIP Johnny.

A few words I penned about John after I heard about that night.....

I can't believe it, why do these things have to happen and why to a man as good as this guy was?
John was the oldest Outlaw that ever lived, he chased races everywhere in the country, he was 'old school' and I loved him. He had a smile and a joke no matter what the situation and he was the smoothest man I have ever known with the ladies, a true southern gentleman. He was polite almost to a fault and when you were in his company you had fun, he made sure of it.
He had quick time at the Masters Classic about every year I was there and he either ran second or broke, he just couldn't win that dang race and he said he was gonna keep coming back to Knoxville 'till he did, he promised me that. He would gather up a few buddies and take 'em on a road trip, he'd race, Bobby Crafts would fix it and his buddies would wash it. Same routine, different track, they could care less, they were some good 'ol boys having fun like teenagers. Always sharing their thoughts with whomever stopped by, at the track or at the bar. He wore a rather old almost ancient drivers suit that I called 'Halloween' because it was orange and black, heck he had some thousand dollar ones made but rarely wore them. Didn't matter to him that Halloween was funny looking, it wasn't the suit that made ya' faster and this ain't no beauty contest either, he would say to me.
John had been very successful in the construction business in Beaumont, TX for many years and was gearing things down these days. I will never forget my first visit to his shop, a few years back. On my way there I stopped and visited the Saldana shop, Lasoski's, Randy Martin's and Gary Wright's and you could have put all their shops together inside of John's and still had room to spare, it sure helped being in the business he was in.
Here are a couple of things that you may not have known about John. He had two passions other than racing, Scuba Diving and Snow Skiing, true story. His office wasn't cluttered with racing memorabilia it had souvenirs of things he had picked up off the ocean floor and Group Photos with his snow skiing gang. If it was fun, John did it and had a ball doing it, this was a unique man and I will sorely miss him.
To his family, which I never knew and to all his many friends especially the guys on the crew and to Bobby Crafts my prayers and thoughts are with you.
I will close with a line from John that is appropriate I feel. As I mentioned earlier John was quite the ladies man and my girlfriend was one of his biggest admirers. One time a while back we walked up to him at East Bay in February having not seen him since the previous season. Kim greeted John before I did with something like 'Bankston, how the hell are you'? They hugged and he looked at her with that wonderful smile and said 'Miserable without ya'. Well Johnny boy as I type this last line in tears, I too am 'Miserable without ya'. Take It Easy.....

Not a fatality; however, Page Jones, son of Parnelli, suffered career ending head injuries at Eldora in one of the USAC 4-Crown events.

Tucson Osty