John Blewett III

John Richard Blewett, III (October 25, 1973 – August 16, 2007) from Howell Township, New Jersey, was a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver.

On August 16, 2007 while competing in a Whelen Modified race at Thompson Speedway, Blewett lost his life in an auto racing accident. The accident made local and national news. He was a well known and respected Northeast Modified Champion, who started racing go carts at the age of 10. In 1996, at age 22, he won the coveted NASCAR's Northeast Regional Championship, falling only a few points shy of the National Title. Some of his career statistics include, 96 wins at tracks up and down the east coast between 1993 and 2007, including track championships at Flemington Speedway, Wall Township Speedway, New Egypt, as well as New Hampshire. In 2006, he was honored during the motorsports show in Atlantic City as the northeasts Winningest Pavement Driver, for that year, as tallied by Area Auto Racing News. The racing community lost a true legend in the sport of modified auto racing.

On August 18, 2007 Wall Township Speedway held a Special Memorial for John. Fans, family, and friends attended the Speedway to pay their final respects to a true legend that left too soon. The final lap, of the scheduled 40 lap modified event, 1990 NASCAR Whelen Modified Titlist Jamie Tomaino piloted the famed #76 for a solo lap in John's honor. Three Months later, at the season ending Turkey Derby, the Speedway decided to retire the famous number so no division will ever touch it again. In the initial schedule for 2008, they scheduled a "John Blewett III Memorial" which was a 76 lapper, and when the announcement came on March 14, 2008 that the track had permanently closed its gates, none of that came to fruition.

John III, was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Farmingdale.

External links

* [http://www.myspace.com/modtour66 Official MySpace]
* [http://blogs.courant.com/autoracing/2007/08/driver-john-ble.html John Blewett III Killed In Whelen Modified Tour Accident At Thompson]
* [http://blogs.courant.com/autoracing/2007/08/local-drivers-r.html Local Drivers React To The Death Of John Blewett III]
* [http://mssforum.chubbychica.com/index.php?s=f72e7902132b7acfa8cddf80f1727e1a&showforum=2 John Blewett III Forum]
* [http://www.thompsonspeedway.com/releases/August%2016%20race%20results.htm Thompson Speedway Race Results]
* [http://www.raceny.com/discus/messages/13/77503.html RaceNY: John Blewett III Dies]
* [http://www.longislandjam.com/driver.php?seriesId=7&regionId=2&driverId=1540&carId=11519 Blewett III Profile at RaceHub]
* [http://www.ccracingsouvenirs.com/nss/achives/03_NSS_Winner.htm John Blewett, III Wins Inaugural North-South Shootout (2003)]