John Frank Nemechek (March 12, 1970 – March 21, 1997) was an American racing driver who competed 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 ...
Craftsman Truck Series
The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck-based stock car racing, s ...
.
Life and racing career

The younger brother of four-time
NASCAR Cup Series
The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, 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, ...
race winner
Joe Nemechek, John followed his brother into racing, participating in his first race at the age of twelve in an 80 class
dirtbike race. After a quick progression to the 250cc class, he moved onto mini-stock cars, where he raced against his brother, and eventually late-model stocks.
When he was not racing, Nemechek served as the front-tire changer on Joe's pit crew, and was on Joe's
1992 NASCAR Busch Series championship-winning team. He would begin attempting NASCAR races himself, and ran one Busch race at
IRP in 1994. He finished 30th after his No. 89 Chevrolet suffered an engine failure. The following season, he began racing in the new Craftsman Truck Series, driving at first for
Redding Motorsports, and then for his brother's
NEMCO Motorsports. In the first year of competition, Nemechek ran 16 races and had two top-ten finishes. He followed that up with two more top-tens in
1996
1996 was designated as:
* International Year for the Eradication of Poverty
Events January
* January 8 – A Zairean cargo plane crashes into a crowded market in the center of the capital city of the Democratic Republic of the Congo ...
and a thirteenth-place finish in points, running a single truck he built himself titled the ''War Wagon'' under his own team,
Chek Racing.
Death
On March 16, 1997, Nemechek was running a Truck Series race at
Homestead-Miami Speedway when with 23 laps to go, he lost control and struck the first-turn wall, driver's side first, and hit his head on the wall, suffering head injuries. He was extracted and transported to a hospital, where he died on March 21, 1997.
Legacy
Following the incident, Homestead was reconfigured into a true oval with a six-degree banking to reduce the possibility of the type of crash that killed Nemechek. His brother Joe won a Busch Series race that November at the reconfigured circuit; he later named his son
John Hunter after his late brother.
In 1999, when Joe won his first Cup Race at New Hampshire, he paid tribute to John over the radio while he took the checkered flag:
“This is for my brother John. I love you.”
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.)
Busch Series
Craftsman Truck Series
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Nemechek, John
1970 births
1997 deaths
Sportspeople from Lakeland, Florida
Racing drivers from Florida
NASCAR drivers
Sports deaths in Florida
Racing drivers who died while racing
Filmed deaths in motorsport
American people of Czech descent
Florida Southern College alumni