John Anderson (April 20, 1944 – July 31, 1986) was an American

stock car Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses. It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It originated in the southe ...

racing driver Auto racing (also known as car racing, motor racing, or automobile racing) is a motorsport involving the racing of automobiles for competition. In North America, the term is commonly used to describe all forms of automobile sport including non ...

. He drove in the

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 ...

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and fro ...

between 1979 and 1983, posting a best finish of fifth.

Career

Born April 20, 1944, in

Warren Warren most commonly refers to: * Warren (burrow), a network dug by rabbits * Warren (name), a given name and a surname, including lists of persons so named Warren may also refer to: Places Australia * Warren (biogeographic region) * War ...

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, Anderson first drove in racing competition at

Flat Rock Speedway Flat Rock Speedway is a race track in Monroe County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is located in Ash Township just south of the city of Flat Rock along U.S. Route 24. Opened in 1953, it is owned by NASCAR and is the sister track to Toledo ...

in 1965, winning the Michigan

Figure 8 racing Figure 8 racing is a type of stock car racing in which automobiles race on an " 8"-shaped track that purposely intersects itself, increasing the risk of collisions. Such contact between the participating vehicles, or at least the risk of such ...

championship in 1967. He was the

Automobile Racing Club of America The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is an auto racing sanctioning body in the United States, founded in 1953 by John Marcum. A subsidiary of NASCAR since 2018, the current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position i ...

(ARCA) Rookie-of-the-Year in 1968. During the late 1960s and 1970s Anderson was successful in competition, winning a number of track championships, along with several ARCA and

American Speed Association The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt a ...

races. He moved up to

United States Auto Club The United States Auto Club (USAC) is one of the sanctioning bodies of auto racing in the United States. From 1956 to 1979, USAC sanctioned the List of USAC Championship Car seasons, United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the ...

(USAC)

sprint car Sprint cars are open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval, circular dirt or paved tracks. Historically known simply as "big cars," distinguishing them from "midget cars," sprint car racing is popular primar ...

and

midget car Midget cars, also Speedcars in Australia, is a class of racing cars. The cars are very small, with a very high power-to-weight ratio, and typically use four-cylinder engines. They originated in the United States in the 1930s and are raced on most ...

racing in 1977, and ran his first

race, in the modified series, at

Charlotte Motor Speedway Charlotte Motor Speedway (known as Lowe's Motor Speedway from 1999 to 2009 due to sponsorship reasons) is a quad-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Concord, North Carolina. It has hosted various major races since it ...

in the fall of that year, winning the pole for the event. In 1979 he made his first NASCAR

start, scoring a fifth-place finish in his first race, at

Michigan International Speedway Michigan International Speedway (formerly named as the Michigan Speedway from 1997 to 2000) is a D-shaped oval superspeedway in Brooklyn, Michigan. It has hosted various major auto racing series throughout its existence, including NASCAR, Cham ...

. He ran the majority of the 1980 season for a number of teams, scoring two top-10 finishes; towards the end of the year he was hired by John Rebham to drive for his team; in 1981, driving an Oldsmobile, he was involved in an accident, in which his car got airborne and flipped over multiple times before landing upside down, during the UNO Twin 125 qualifying races for the

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. Shortly afterwards, Rebham, impatient for results and under pressure from his sponsors, fired Anderson, replacing him with

Donnie Allison Donnie Allison (born September 7, 1939) is an American former driver on the NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup circuit, who won ten times during his racing career, which spanned from 1966 to 1988. He is part of the " Alabama Gang", and is the br ...

. Anderson would only run a few additional races in the Winston Cup Series and Budweiser Late Model Sportsman Series before retiring. Anderson won over 200 races of various types during his racing career. He was killed in a road crash on

Interstate 85 Interstate 85 (I-85) is a major Interstate Highway in the Southeastern United States. Its southern terminus is at an interchange with I-65 in Montgomery, Alabama; its northern terminus is an interchange with I-95 in Petersburg, Virginia, ...

near

Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina, Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 United ...

on July 31, 1986, being survived by his wife Mary Ann and two children. Anderson was inducted into the

Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame The Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame is a non-profit hall of fame for Michigan auto racers. It was founded in 1982 by Dick Lee and was incorporated April 19, 1982, as a non-profit 501(c) (3) non-stock Michigan corporation. The Michigan Motor Sp ...

in 2002.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Anderson, John NASCAR drivers 1944 births 1986 deaths Sportspeople from Warren, Michigan Racing drivers from Detroit Road incident deaths in North Carolina