John Blewett III

John Blewett III
Nationality American
Born (1973-10-25)October 25, 1973
Howell Township, New Jersey, United States
Died August 16, 2007(2007-08-16) (aged 33)
Thompson, Connecticut, United States
Related to Jimmy Blewett (brother)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Years active 1995–2007
Teams Dick Barney (1995–1996, 1998–1999)
Mario Fiore (1999)
Curt Chase (2000–2004)
Timmy Shinn (2002–2004)
Sheba Racing (2004)
John Blewett Inc. (1997, 2005–2007)
Starts 164
Wins 10
Poles 4
Best finish 3rd in 2001 and 2003
Previous series
1996–1998 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Awards
1992 Rookie of the Year

John Richard Blewett, III (October 25, 1973 – August 16, 2007), from Howell Township, New Jersey, was a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver.[1]

Career

Blewett started racing go karts at the age of 10. In 1996, at age 22, he won the coveted NASCAR's Northeast Regional Championship, falling only a few points shy of the National Title. During his career he recorded 96 wins between 1993 and 2007, including track championships at Flemington Speedway, Wall Township Speedway, New Egypt, as well as New Hampshire. In 2006, he was honored during the motorsports show in Atlantic City as the northeasts Winningest Pavement Driver, for that year, as tallied by Area Auto Racing News.

Death and Memorial

On August 16, 2007, while competing in a Whelen Modified race at Thompson Speedway, Blewett lost his life in a crash where he spun and was hit in the driver's door.[2] On August 18, 2007 Wall Township Speedway held a Special Memorial for John. Fans, family, and friends attended the Speedway to pay their final respects. On the final lap of the scheduled 40 lap modified event, 1990 NASCAR Whelen Modified Titlist Jamie Tomaino piloted the famed #76 for a solo lap in John's honor. Three months later, at the season ending Turkey Derby, the Speedway decided to reserve the #76 exclusively for use by the Blewett family, effectively retiring the number except that any Blewett family owned team or driver can use it.[3]

The North-South Shootout, a race meet now featuring "Tour-type" Modified (similar to NASCAR Modified Tour cars, but the races are unsanctioned), SK Modified (Jack Arute owns the trademark, a Stafford Motor Speedway formula), Late Model, Super Late Model, and four-cylinder races held at various North Carolina short tracks, was renamed the John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout starting with the 2007 edition.

Previous rides

Accomplishments

Track titles

References

  1. ↑ http://www.longislandjam.com/driver.php?seriesId=7&regionId=2&driverId=1540&carId=11519
  2. ↑ http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Race+driver,+33,+killed%3B+Death+on+Thompson+track.-a0167751466
  3. ↑ http://blogs.courant.com/autoracing/2007/08/wall-township-speedway-memoria.html

External links

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