J. D. McDuffie

Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = John Delphus McDuffie
Birthplace = flagicon|USA Sanford, North Carolina
Birthdate = birth date|1937|12|5
Died = death date and age|1991|8|11|1938|12|5
Cause of Death = Race car crash in turn 5 at Watkins Glen International during the Bud at the Glen
Best_Cup_Pos = 9th - 1971 (Grand National)
Cup_Top_Tens = 106
Cup_Poles = 1
First_Cup_Race = 1963 Speedorama 200 (Myrtle Beach Speedway)
Last_Cup_Race = 1991 The Bud at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
Years_In_Cup = 27
Total_Cup_Races = 653

John Delphus McDuffie (December 5, 1938 - August 11, 1991) was a NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) Series driver.

He made his debut in 1963 at Myrtle Beach Speedway, finishing 12th out of 18 drivers. He went on to finish in the top ten in points twice in his career and won the pole position for the 1978 Delaware 500. He fielded his own team for most of his career. His underfunded efforts made him a fan favorite, especially as his career ran down and he only ran selected races. He also was often seen in the garage smoking cigars and working on his racecar.

McDuffie was involved in an accident in the opening laps of the 1991 Bud at the Glen race at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Turning into turn 5, a broken ball joint resulted in the loss the right rear wheel on his car, at perhaps the worst place in racing to have such a failure. Unable to slow the car at all, and with an absence of a gravel trap, McDuffie skidded across the grass and slammed with tremendous velocity into the tire barrier outside the high speed right-hander. The force of the impact flipped the car and kept it airborne as Jimmy Means, also collected in the accident, crashed underneath him. Means was able to slow his car substantially before crashing and avoid injury, but the sheer violence of the J.D.'s impact with the tires made the impact unsurvivable for McDuffie.

McDuffie's fatal wreck, and a serious injury to Tom Kendall six weeks earlier in the Camel Continental VIII, led to a new bus stop chicane shortly before Turn 5 to slow down cars entering the turn.

McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean, unsuccessfully (as of September 1993) sued Watkins Glen and NASCAR for $4.25 million, claiming the barrier McDuffie hit was unsafe. The judge in the case ruled that McDuffie was familiar enough with the track to be aware of the dangers and that mechanical failure caused the accident [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE6DC153DF936A3575AC0A965958260&n=Top%2fClassifieds%2fAutos%2fTopics%2fWheel%20Spin SPORTS PEOPLE: AUTO RACING; Track Found Not Liable - New York Times ] ] .

J.D. McDuffie is still the record holder for most starts in NASCAR's top touring series without recording a win. His 653 starts ranks him 14th in all-time starts (as of May 7, 2006).

The day before his fatal crash, J.D. McDuffie won a celebrity race in Owego, New York at Shangri-La Speedway near Watkins Glen [ESPN coverage of the 1991 Budweiser at the Glen] .

Racing Champions made diecast cars of McDuffie after his death as a tribute, they can still be found in novelty stores.

References

External links

* [http://members.tripod.com/~SpeedZone70/40plus4.html Salute to J.D.]
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=mcdufj.01 Driver's statistics at racing-reference.info]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8YNsk4GjM2I] -ESPN race coverage of JD McDuffie's crash for historical purposes only.