Stanley Cole Fuchs (July 7, 1952 – December 18, 2000), known professionally as Stan Fox (''Fuchs'' being the German word for "fox"), was an American open wheel race car driver. Fox was one of the last links between the

midget car racing 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 mo ...

world and the

Indianapolis 500 The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly called the Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of India ...

.Biography
at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame

Midget car career

Fox began his career as a midget car racer. He won the 1979 Badger Midget championship, and the 1979 and 1980 Belleville Nationals. He placed in the top twelve in points in nine seasons, even after he raced sporadically after moving 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 United States National Championship, and from 1956 to 1997 the organization sanctioned the Indianapo ...

(USAC) open wheel events. He had 19 USAC career wins. He won the Turkey Night Grand Prix in 1990 at the last event at

Ascot Park Ascot Park can refer to: * Ascot Park (speedway) – dirt racing track in Gardena, California * Ascot Park, New Zealand – suburb in Porirua, New Zealand * Ascot Park, South Australia Ascot Park is a suburb in the south-western part of Adelaid ...

. He won the 1991 Turkey Night Grand Prix, two Copper Classics, three

Rex Easton Memorial Rex may refer to: * Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title ** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom People * Rex (given name), for people with the given name * Rex (surname), for people with t ...

s at

Springfield, Illinois Springfield is the capital of the U.S. state of Illinois and the county seat and largest city of Sangamon County. The city's population was 114,394 at the 2020 census, which makes it the state's seventh most-populous city, the second largest ...

, two

Rodger Mauro Classic Rodger is a surname, and is a variant of Roger as a first name. First name * Rodger Arneil, Scottish rugby union player * Rodger Bain, British former record producer * Rodger Bumpass, American voice actor and actor *Rodger Corser, Australian actor ...

s, and the midget car portion of the 4-Crown National at Eldora Speedway.

IndyCar career

Fox competed in the

eight times between 1987 and 1995 driving for A. J. Foyt and

Ron Hemelgarn Hemelgarn Racing is an American auto racing team owned by Ron Hemelgarn. The team debuted in 1985, and competed in the CART and Indy Racing League ranks until the team originally shut down in 2010. The team returned to competition in 2015, and cur ...

. He was also a motorcycle racing enthusiast.

Near-fatal crash at Indianapolis

While driving for Ron Hemelgarn, Fox was seriously injured during the 1995 Indianapolis 500 in a serious accident. After starting ninth, Fox went low into the first turn on the first lap of the race and spun. His car connected with the car of

Eddie Cheever, Jr. Edward McKay "Eddie" Cheever Jr. (born January 10, 1958) is an American former racing driver who raced for almost 30 years in Formula One, Sports car racing, sports cars, Champ Car, CART, and the Indy Racing League. Cheever participated in 143 F ...

and slammed into the outside wall. Several other cars also became involved. The front nose-cone was ripped from his car, exposing his legs. Fox suffered serious head injuries which put him in a coma for five days, and had surgery to have a blood clot removed from his brain. After a month, Fox had been moved from the Methodist Hospital critical care unit to a private room, and was showing signs of improvement. The accident ended Fox's racing career but he stayed involved with the sport. He started the non-profit organization ''Friends of the Fox'' which supports people with head injuries and brings a person to the track each May to meet drivers and get VIP treatment.

Death

Fox was killed in a head-on collision on December 18, 2000 on the Desert Road some south of

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand. Fox was driving through the night to attend a speedway meeting and collided head on with a northbound truck and trailer Unit.

Career award

*He was inducted in the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame.

Racing record

American open–wheel racing results

( key)

CART

Indianapolis 500

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Winston Cup Series

SuperTruck Series

References

External links

*

1995 Indy 500 Crash Photos

1995 Indy 500 Crash Photos

1995 Indy 500 Crash Photos

Picture of Stan Fox {{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Stan 1952 births 2000 deaths Champ Car drivers Indianapolis 500 drivers SCCA Formula Super Vee drivers Indy Lights drivers Sportspeople from Janesville, Wisconsin Racing drivers from Wisconsin Road incident deaths in New Zealand NASCAR drivers USAC Silver Crown Series drivers A. J. Foyt Enterprises drivers