Richard Refeld Linder (April 6, 1923April 19, 1959) was an American professional race car driver from

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...

Career

Linder raced USAC

open wheel An open-wheel car is a car with the wheels outside the car's main body, and usually having only one seat. Open-wheel cars contrast with street cars, sports cars, stock cars, and touring cars, which have their wheels below the body or inside fend ...

as well as

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

stock cars. Between 1949 and 1956 he entered 28 NASCAR events, winning three with eight additional Top 10 finishes. Linder's three wins came behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile; Dayton, OH 8/20/1950, Hamburg, NY 8/27/1950, and Vernon, NY 10/1/1950. His final NASCAR race was the 1956 Beach Course event at Daytona. He raced there several times including an 18th-place finish in 1951. Linder recorded over 110 victories at various Pennsylvania race tracks. He and his brother Gus Linder are members of The Pittsburgh Circle Track Club Hall of Fame.

Death

During a USAC Champ Car event at

Trenton Speedway Trenton Speedway was a racing facility located near Trenton, New Jersey at the New Jersey State Fairgrounds. Races for the United States' premier open-wheel and full-bodied racing series of the times were held at Trenton Speedway. Racing histor ...

in April 1959, Linder tried to avoid hitting

Don Branson Donald L. Branson (June 2, 1920 – November 12, 1966) was an American racecar driver. Career Born in Rantoul, Illinois, Branson drove in the USAC Championship Car series and also in sprint cars, racing champ cars in the 1956–1966 seasons ...

, who was spinning in front of him. His racer crashed through the guard rail and rolled over once, landing on its wheels. Linder, who was 36 years old, died of a broken neck. Linder's Vargo Special was the same car in which

Van Johnson Charles Van Dell Johnson (August 25, 1916 – December 12, 2008) was an American actor and dancer. He had a prolific career in film, television, theatre and radio, which spanned over 50 years, from 1940 to 1992. He was a major star at Metr ...

would be killed a few months,

Hugh Randall Hugh Grant Randall (October 31, 1933 – July 1, 1962) was an American racing driver from Louisville, Kentucky. Randall was a veteran sprint car racer who attempted to venture into American Championship Car Racing in 1962. In the spring and summe ...

a few years later.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Linder, Dick 1923 births 1959 deaths Racing drivers from Pittsburgh NASCAR drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in New Jersey