1980s Jack Hewitt #3 Sprint Car Crash

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Jesper Hvid
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1980s Jack Hewitt #3 Sprint Car Crash

#1

Post by Jesper Hvid »

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Image

Appears in his biography, Hewitt's Law. I do not own it.
Jack Hewitt wrote:After this crash in my heat race we fixed the car and were able to make the feature ...and win!
How is that even possible? Via extra spot/consy? Or did he crash over the finishing line?

Is it this: http://www.ultimateracinghistory.com/ra ... ceid=47352 ?

The Dream Event at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. His only USAC feature win in a #3, listed at ultimateracinghistory. A Silver Crown race.
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Michael Ferner
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#2

Post by Michael Ferner »

You were not far off! It was at Eldora Speedway April 24, just a week earlier. The crash happened in the first heat, and the crew got the car repaired in time for the consy, which Hewitt won. It was his first USAC main event win, and the next day he crashed again during the Silver Crown race at the same track (this was a Sprint car race).
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Jesper Hvid
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#3

Post by Jesper Hvid »

Thanks for the info.

Two abers dabei, if you don't mind.

1) Is his (i.e. Hewitt) case the first in USAC dirt track racing history, in which someone heat-crashed, then qualified for feature via consy, and then won, outright? To me, it would be a crucial point of order. It would settle finally the problem we have been discussing for years. Catflap racing.

2) The Silver Crown series wasn't for sprint cars. They were dirt track champcar races. Written history roars audibly in your face, over that one. Any chance you can fix that, in the muddled brains of all those who disagree?

I'm confident you can.
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Michael Ferner
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#4

Post by Michael Ferner »

1) No, it's not a first. Not only that, but in Sprint car racing it's even possible to crash and then get back into the same race e.g. when it's red-flagged - there is no parc fermé condition during race interruptions. Furthermore, during prolonged yellows it's possible to repair (minor) damage and get back into the race without losing anything other than track position (you automatically go to the rear of the field), because yellow flag laps don't count. Without wanting to go on a wild goose chase, I'm confident there's multiple occasions when a crash victim (whether during a heat, or in the actual main) came back to win outright.

2) Read it again, you misunderstood: Hewitt won the Sprint car race at Eldora on April 24, and crashed out of the Silver Crown race at the same track on April 25. Also, for someone who (quite legitimately) lacks knowledge about many basic facts of US short track racing, it's bad form to make a big song and dance about the difference between a sprint car and dirt track champcars when they're basically the same thing, and differ only in a few minor details. Case in point, you yourself confused them in the original post of this thread: the picture shows a Sprint car, and you suggested it was perhaps from a Silver Crown event. Visual history roars audibly in your muddled brain, can you fix that? I'm not confident you can.
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