Langbahn Team – Weltmeisterschaft

Kenny Irwin Jr.

Kenny Irwin Jr.
Irwin in 1998
BornKenneth Dale Irwin Jr.
(1969-08-05)August 5, 1969
Indianapolis, Indiana, U.S.
DiedJuly 7, 2000(2000-07-07) (aged 30)
Loudon, New Hampshire, U.S.
Cause of deathBasilar skull fracture due to auto racing accident.
Achievements1996 USAC National Midget Champion
Awards1998 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
1997 Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Cup Series career
87 races run over 4 years
Best finish19th (1999)
First race1997 Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 (Richmond)
Last race2000 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 12 3
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
14 races run over 2 years
Best finish50th (2000)
First race1999 Coca-Cola 300 (Texas)
Last race2000 Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 4 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
32 races run over 3 years
Best finish10th (1997)
First race1996 Chevy Desert Star Classic (Phoenix)
Last race1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus / AC Delco 300 (Phoenix)
First win1997 Florida Dodge Dealers 400K (Homestead)
Last win1997 Pronto Auto Parts 400K (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles
2 11 1

Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. (August 5, 1969 – July 7, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver. He had driven in all three NASCAR national touring series, and had two total victories, both in the Craftsman Truck Series. 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 Motor Speedway.

Early life

Irwin grew up in Indianapolis and was the third youngest of four children. He began racing quarter-midgets before he was in the second grade. He graduated from Lawrence North High School in 1988 where he played varsity soccer, while continuing his career as a driver. Between 1988 and 1991, he earned his SCCA competition license and competed in the GT1 category, driving a turbocharged Buick Grand National, then raced for his father in the IMSA American Challenge (road racing) stock car series, all while he was still a teenager.

Irwin then went on to race in USAC. He began open wheel racing in 1991. He had 7 career USAC Sprint Car Series wins, and was the series Rookie of the Year in 1993. In 1994 he was the USAC Silver Crown Series Rookie of the Year and finished second in the 1995 USAC standings. In 1996 he was the USAC National Midget Series champ. After his successful run in USAC, many open-wheel enthusiasts began comparing him to NASCAR star Jeff Gordon.[citation needed]

NASCAR

Irwin's 1997 truck
Irwin's 1997 Winston Cup car
Irwin (No. 28) racing Matt Kenseth at Dover, 1998
Irwin's Project Impact car, May 2000

Irwin began his major-league NASCAR career in the Craftsman Truck Series. He made his debut in that series in 1996 at Phoenix International Raceway, driving the No. 26 Ford F-150 for MB Motorsports. He started and finished 32nd after an engine failure. In his second start at Richmond International Raceway, he won the pole in the No. 62 Raybestos Ford for Liberty Racing, finishing fifth in the event.

He moved up to drive full-time in 1997, driving the No. 98 Ford for Liberty Racing. He had 2 wins, 7 Top 5, and 10 Top 10 finishes that season, on his way to a 10th-place finish in the final point standings. He also won Rookie of the Year honors that season. Irwin also made his debut in the Winston Cup Series in 1997 with David Blair Motorsports at Richmond. He qualified on the outside pole and led for twelve laps, finishing in eighth place. He ran three more races with Blair that season, qualifying no worse than eleventh.

"Everyone has been hoping to find the next Jeff Gordon, I think we found him."

— David Blair, after the 1997 season-ending race at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Irwin won the 1998 Rookie of the Year award in the Cup Series driving the Robert Yates Racing No. 28 car, replacing Ernie Irvan. Irwin started the 1998 season by winning the Automobile Racing Club of America race in Daytona in February in a car owned by Yates. During that season, he had one pole, 1 Top 5, and 4 Top 10 finishes on his way to a disappointing 28th-place finish in the final points standings. In 1999 he had 2 poles, 2 Top 5 and 6 Top 10 finishes and finished 19th-place finish in the final points standings.

Irwin made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series in 1999, driving the No. 11 Ford Taurus owned by his teammate, Dale Jarrett, and then-Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre. He had two fifth-place finishes in five starts in the series during the 1999 season, at Texas Motor Speedway and Dover International Speedway, respectively.

He is also known for one incident where he bumped the car of Tony Stewart, a former rival of his in USAC open-wheel competition, into the wall in the NAPA Autocare 500 at Martinsville Speedway. After Stewart wrecked Irwin twice in the same race in turn 4, Irwin retaliated against Stewart by spinning him in turn 1 on the restart. Stewart exited his wrecked car, clapped at Irwin, threw his gloves at his car, and tried to enter Irwin's car as it was driving under the caution flag in a show of displeasure.

For the 2000 season Irwin was tabbed by Felix Sabates to replace Joe Nemechek in Team SABCO's No. 42 Chevrolet. He had a single Top 10 finish, 4th at Talladega Superspeedway, in his first 17 races with the team. He made nine starts in the Busch Series for SABCO as well, posting a best finish of ninth at Talladega. His final race for the team was at Daytona International Speedway in the Pepsi 400, finishing 22nd; he was seen as having a bright future with the team, which had just had a majority interest purchased by Chip Ganassi.[1]

Death

During practice for the thatlook.com 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 7, 2000, Irwin slammed head on into the wall, causing his car to flip onto its side. According to fellow driver Brett Bodine speaking to CNN, the car slid along its side for a long time before rolling on its roof. Irwin likely died instantly of a basilar skull fracture. He was 30 years old. Fellow Indiana native (and rival) Tony Stewart would win the race that Sunday, and donate the trophy to Irwin's parents.[2] Irwin's accident was blamed on a stuck throttle, which was the same cause of the accident that had killed Adam Petty at nearly that exact spot on the track just two months prior. Ted Musgrave drove the renumbered No. 01 car for the remainder of the 2000 season. The car was renumbered to 41 in 2002 and Sabates brought back the 42 number in 2003 with driver Jamie McMurray.

Irwin's parents founded the Kenny Irwin Jr Foundation and the Dare to Dream Camp for underprivileged children located in New Castle, Indiana in his honor. The 2000 Brickyard 400, held on what would have been Irwin's 31st birthday, was dedicated in his memory.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 NWCC Pts Ref
1997 David Blair Motorsports 27 Ford DAY CAR RCH ATL DAR TEX BRI MAR SON TAL CLT DOV POC MCH CAL DAY NHA POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH
8 		NHA DOV MAR
37 		CLT TAL CAR
DNQ 		PHO
20 		ATL
25 		49th 390 [3]
1998 Yates Racing 28 Ford DAY
19 		CAR
26 		LVS
36 		ATL
5* 		DAR
39 		BRI
43 		TEX
39 		MAR
19 		TAL
40 		CAL
16 		CLT
DNQ 		DOV
33 		RCH
9 		MCH
13 		POC
11 		SON
9 		NHA
33 		POC
22 		IND
38 		GLN
37 		MCH
16 		BRI
15 		NHA
11 		DAR
41 		RCH
10 		DOV
40 		MAR
27 		CLT
20 		TAL
43 		DAY
32 		PHO
40 		CAR
33 		ATL
16 		28th 2760 [4]
1999 DAY
3 		CAR
23 		LVS
41 		ATL
23 		DAR
35 		TEX
15 		BRI
11 		MAR
36 		TAL
35 		CAL
13 		RCH
40 		CLT
15 		DOV
10 		MCH
11 		POC
18 		SON
22 		DAY
14 		NHA
26 		POC
43 		IND
13 		GLN
26 		MCH
34 		BRI
24 		DAR
31 		RCH
5 		NHA
10 		DOV
10 		MAR
39 		CLT
15 		TAL
10 		CAR
13 		PHO
21 		HOM
33 		ATL
29 		19th 3338 [5]
2000 Team SABCO 42 Chevy DAY
14 		CAR
22 		LVS
24 		ATL
24 		DAR
38 		BRI
40 		TEX
17 		MAR
37 		TAL
4 		CAL
42 		RCH
42 		CLT
24 		DOV
17 		MCH
35 		POC
25 		SON
23 		DAY
22 		NHA
Wth 		POC IND GLN MCH BRI DAR RCH NHA DOV MAR CLT TAL CAR PHO HOM ATL 42nd 1440 [6]
Daytona 500
Year Team Manufacturer Start Finish
1998 Yates Racing Ford 38 19
1999 41 3
2000 Team SABCO Chevy 18 14

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 NBSC Pts Ref
1994 02 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP
DNQ 		MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR NA - [7]
1997 Liberty Racing 98 Ford DAY
DNQ 		CAR RCH ATL LVS DAR HCY TEX
DNQ 		BRI NSV TAL NHA NZH CLT DOV SBO GLN MLW MYB GTY NA - [8]
Chevy IRP
DNQ 		MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAL CAR HOM
1998 Porter Racing 48 Ford DAY CAR LVS NSV DAR BRI TEX HCY TAL NHA NZH CLT
DNQ 		DOV RCH PPR GLN MLW MYB CAL SBO IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT GTY CAR ATL HOM NA - [9]
1999 Jarrett/Favre Motorsports 11 Ford DAY CAR LVS ATL DAR TEX
5 		NSV BRI TAL CAL
DNQ 		NHA RCH NZH CLT
DNQ 		DOV
11 		SBO GLN MLW MYB PPR GTY IRP
16 		MCH
33 		BRI
DNQ 		DAR RCH
DNQ 		DOV
5 		CLT
DNQ 		CAR MEM PHO HOM 61st 619 [10]
2000 SABCO Racing 42 Chevy DAY
39 		CAR
31 		LVS
DNQ 		ATL
10 		DAR
19 		BRI
30 		TEX
16 		NSV TAL
9 		CAL
32 		RCH
DNQ 		NHA CLT
20 		DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NZH PPR GTY IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR MEM PHO HOM 50th 852 [11]

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 NCTC Pts Ref
1996 MB Motorsports 26 Ford HOM PHO
32 		POR EVG TUS CNS HPT BRI NZH MLW LVL I70 IRP FLM GLN NSV 45th 468 [12]
Liberty Racing 62 Ford RCH
5 		NHA MAR NWS SON
98 MMR
15 		PHO
26 		LVS
40
1997 WDW
7 		TUS
14 		HOM
1 		PHO
17 		POR
15 		EVG
5 		I70
14 		NHA
5 		TEX
1 		BRI
26 		NZH
27 		MLW
15 		LVL
18 		CNS
14 		HPT
18 		IRP
7 		FLM
25 		NSV
21 		GLN
28 		RCH
5 		MAR
8 		SON
31 		MMR
16 		CAL
3 		PHO
4 		LVS
25 		10th 3220 [13]
1998 Ultra Motorsports 28 Ford WDW HOM PHO POR EVG I70 GLN TEX BRI MLW NZH CAL PPR IRP NHA FLM NSV HPT LVL RCH MEM GTY MAR SON MMR PHO
20 		LVS 92nd 103 [14]

Winston West Series

NASCAR Winston West Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 NWWC Pts Ref
1997 Yates Racing 28 Ford TUS AMP SON TUS MMR LVS CAL EVG POR PPR AMP SON MMR LVS
28 		75th 89 [15]

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series results
Year Team No. Make 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 ABMHSC Pts Ref
1998 David Blair Motorsports 27 Ford DAY
1* 		ATL SLM CLT MEM MCH POC SBS TOL PPR POC KIL FRS ISF ATL DSF SLM TEX WIN CLT TAL ATL NA - [16]

References

  1. ^ Smith, Marty (July 6, 2000). "Dial it up, Irwin a contender at NHIS". NASCAR.com. ESPN. Archived from the original on August 23, 2000. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
  2. ^ CNN report on YouTube
  3. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1997 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  4. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1998 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 14, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  5. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 15, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  6. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 2000 NASCAR Winston Cup Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  7. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1994 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  8. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1997 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  9. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1998 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  10. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1999 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  11. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 2000 NASCAR Busch Grand National Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  12. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 18, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  13. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  14. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on July 21, 2014. Retrieved July 9, 2014.
  15. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1997 NASCAR Winston West Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
  16. ^ "Kenny Irwin, Jr. – 1998 ARCA Bondo/Mar-Hyde Series Results". Racing-Reference. Archived from the original on March 1, 2019. Retrieved February 28, 2019.
Preceded by NASCAR Cup Series fatal accidents
2000 		Succeeded by
Achievements
Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
1998 		Succeeded by
Preceded by NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year
1997 		Succeeded by
Quelle: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kenny_Irwin_Jr.