Tracy Glenn Read (December 23, 1961 – July 25, 1987) was a campaigner on 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. The current president of ARCA is Ron Drager, who took over the position in 1996 following the death of Bob Lo ...

tour. His first race was on October 31, 1981, at Milwaukee. He also worked on

Cale Yarborough William Caleb "Cale" Yarborough (born March 27, 1939) is an American former NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver and owner, businessman, and farmer. He is one of only two drivers in NASCAR history to win three consecutive championships, winning in 1 ...

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. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

team and for a few ARCA races in 1987 Read ran Yarborough's backup

Winston Cup The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. In 1971 ...

race car. In the spring race at Talladega in 1987, Read was swept up in a massive pileup late in the race, but was uninjured. However, on his next race back at Talladega in July, on the 78th lap of the 117 lap (500 km race), Kirk Bryant spun and hit the outside wall. Read, who was behind Bryant's whirling Oldsmobile, spun through the infield grass to avoid him, but Read's car plowed nearly head on into the inside dirt bank. Read, 25, died instantly of massive head, chest, and abdominal injuries from the crash. Read was noted for his very close physical resemblance to

Davey Allison David Carl Allison (February 25, 1961 – July 13, 1993) was an American NASCAR driver. He was best known for driving the No. 28 Texaco-Havoline Ford for Robert Yates Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series. Born in Hollywood, Florida, he was the ...

, and may be best remembered for his actions following the big crash in the first Talladega race of 1987 when he climbed from his car and began waving frantically for safety crews to extinguish the flames from his burning car. Following his death,

said of Read, "Tracy was a nice young man who would do anything to help someone in need, he can never be replaced by anyone else and I'll miss him a lot..."

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* 1961 births 1987 deaths ARCA Menards Series drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Alabama {{NASCAR-bio-stub