Kenny Irwin Jr.

Kenny Irwin Jr.
Irwin in 1998
Born	Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. August 5, 1969 Indianapolis, Indiana, United States
Died	July 7, 2000 (aged 30) New Hampshire International Speedway, Loudon, New Hampshire, United States
Cause of death	Basilar skull fracture from racing accident
Achievements	1996 USAC National Midget Champion
Awards	1998 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year 1997 Craftsman Truck Series Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career
87 races run over 4 years
Best finish	19th (1999)
First race	1997 Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 (Richmond)
Last race	2000 Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 12 3
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
14 races run over 2 years
Best finish	50th (2000)
First race	1999 Coca-Cola 300 (Texas)
Last race	2000 Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 4 0
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
32 races run over 3 years
Best finish	10th (1997)
First race	1996 Chevy Desert Star Classic (Phoenix)
Last race	1998 GM Goodwrench Service Plus / AC Delco 300 (Phoenix)
First win	1997 Florida Dodge Dealers 400K (Homestead)
Last win	1997 Pronto Auto Parts 400K (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 11 1

Kenneth Dale "Kenny" Irwin Jr. (August 5, 1969 – July 7, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver. He had driven in all three NASCAR national touring series, and had two total victories, both in the Craftsman Truck Series. Before that, he raced in the United States Auto Club against Tony Stewart, who was one of his fiercest rivals. He died as a result of injuries suffered in a crash during a practice session at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Early life

Irwin grew up in Indianapolis, Indiana, and was the third youngest of four children. He began racing quarter-midgets before he was in the second grade. He graduated from Lawrence North High School in 1988 where he played varsity soccer, while continuing his career as a driver. Between 1988 and 1991, he raced for his father in the IMSA American Challenge stock car series, all while he was still a teenager.

Irwin then went on to race in USAC. He began open wheel racing in 1991. He had 7 career USAC Sprint Car Series wins, and was the series Rookie of the Year in 1993. In 1994 he was the USAC Silver Crown Series Rookie of the Year and finished second in the 1995 USAC standings. In 1996 he was the USAC National Midget Series champ. After his successful run in USAC, many open-wheel enthusiasts began comparing him to NASCAR's Jeff Gordon.

NASCAR

Irwin's 1997 truck

Irwin's 1997 Winston Cup car

Irwin (No. 28) racing Matt Kenseth at Dover, 1998

Irwin's Project Impact car, May 2000

Irwin began his major-league NASCAR career in the Craftsman Truck Series. He made his debut in that series in 1996 at Phoenix International Raceway, driving the No. 26 Ford F-150 for MB Motorsports. He started and finished 32nd after an engine failure. In his second start at Richmond International Raceway, he won the pole in the No. 62 Raybestos Ford for Liberty Racing, finishing fifth in the event.

He moved up to drive full-time in 1997, driving the No. 98 Ford for Liberty Racing. He had 2 wins, 7 Top 5, and 10 Top 10 finishes that season, on his way to a 10th-place finish in the final point standings. He also won Rookie of the Year honors that season. Irwin also made his debut in the Winston Cup Series in 1997 with David Blair Motorsports at Richmond. He qualified on the outside pole and led for twelve laps, finishing in eighth place. He ran three more races with Blair that season, qualifying no worse than eleventh.

"Everyone has been hoping to find the next Jeff Gordon, I think we found him."

— David Blair, after the 1997 season-ending race at Atlanta Motor Speedway

Irwin won the 1998 Rookie of the Year award in the Cup Series driving the Robert Yates Racing No. 28 car, replacing Ernie Irvan. Irwin started the 1998 season by winning the Automobile Racing Club of America race in Daytona in February in a car owned by Yates. During that season, he had one pole, 1 Top 5, and 4 Top 10 finishes on his way to a disappointing 28th-place finish in the final points standings. In 1999 he had 2 poles, 2 Top 5 and 6 Top 10 finishes and finished 19th-place finish in the final points standings.

Irwin made his debut in the NASCAR Busch Series in 1999, driving the No. 11 Ford Taurus owned by his teammate, Dale Jarrett, and NFL quarterback Brett Favre. He had two fifth-place finishes in five starts in the series during the 1999 season, at Texas Motor Speedway and Dover International Speedway, respectively.

He is also known for one incident where he bumped the car of Tony Stewart, a former rival of his in USAC open-wheel commpetition, into the wall in the Goody's 500 at Martinsville Speedway. Stewart exited his wrecked car and tried to enter Irwin's car as it was driving under the caution flag in a show of displeasure.

For the 2000 season Irwin was tabbed by Felix Sabates to replace Joe Nemechek in Team SABCO's No. 42 Chevrolet. He had a single Top 10 finish, 4th at Talladega Superspeedway, in his first 17 races with the team. He made nine starts in the Busch Series for SABCO as well, posting a best finish of ninth at Talladega. His final race for the team was at Daytona International Speedway in the Pepsi 400, finishing 22nd; he was seen as having a bright future with the team, which had just had a majority interest purchased by Chip Ganassi.^[1]

Death

During practice for the thatlook.com 300 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 7, 2000, Irwin slammed head on into the wall, causing his car to flip onto its side. According to fellow driver Brett Bodine speaking to CNN, the car slid along its side for a long time before rolling on its roof. Irwin likely died instantly of a basilar skull fracture. He was 30 years old. He died four weeks and one day before his 31st birthday. Fellow Indiana native (and rival) Tony Stewart would win the race that Sunday, and donate the trophy to Irwin's parents.^[2] Irwin's accident was blamed on a stuck throttle, which was the same cause of the accident that had killed Adam Petty at nearly that exact spot on the track just two months prior. Ted Musgrave drove the renumbered No. 01 car for the remainder of the 2000 season. The car was renumbered to 41 in 2002 and Sabates brought back the 42 number in 2003 with driver Jamie McMurray.

Irwin's parents founded the Kenny Irwin Jr Foundation and the Dare to Dream Camp for underprivileged children located in New Castle, Indiana in his honor.

The 2000 Brickyard 400 was dedicated in his memory.

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.)

Winston Cup Series

NASCAR Winston Cup Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NWCC	Pts
1997	David Blair Motorsports	27	Ford	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	DAR	TEX	BRI	MAR	SON	TAL	CLT	DOV	POC	MCH	CAL	DAY	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH 8	NHA	DOV	MAR 37	CLT	TAL	CAR DNQ	PHO 20	ATL 25			49th	390
1998	Yates Racing	28	Ford	DAY 19	CAR 26	LVS 36	ATL 5*	DAR 39	BRI 43	TEX 39	MAR 19	TAL 40	CAL 16	CLT DNQ	DOV 33	RCH 9	MCH 13	POC 11	SON 9	NHA 33	POC 22	IND 38	GLN 37	MCH 16	BRI 15	NHA 11	DAR 41	RCH 10	DOV 40	MAR 27	CLT 20	TAL 43	DAY 32	PHO 40	CAR 33	ATL 16		28th	2760
1999				DAY 3	CAR 23	LVS 41	ATL 23	DAR 35	TEX 15	BRI 11	MAR 36	TAL 35	CAL 13	RCH 40	CLT 15	DOV 10	MCH 11	POC 18	SON 22	DAY 14	NHA 26	POC 43	IND 13	GLN 26	MCH 34	BRI 24	DAR 31	RCH 5	NHA 10	DOV 10	MAR 39	CLT 15	TAL 10	CAR 13	PHO 21	HOM 33	ATL 29	19th	3338
2000	SABCO Racing	42	Chevy	DAY 14	CAR 22	LVS 24	ATL 24	DAR 38	BRI 40	TEX 17	MAR 37	TAL 4	CAL 42	RCH 42	CLT 24	DOV 17	MCH 35	POC 25	SON 23	DAY 22	NHA	POC	IND	GLN	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	NHA	DOV	MAR	CLT	TAL	CAR	PHO	HOM	ATL	42nd	1440

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	NBSC	Pts
1997	Liberty Racing	98	Ford	DAY DNQ	CAR	RCH	ATL	LVS	DAR	HCY	TEX DNQ	BRI	NSV	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	GTY													NA	-
			Chevy																					IRP DNQ	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAL	CAR	HOM
1998	Porter Racing	48	Ford	DAY	CAR	LVS	NSV	DAR	BRI	TEX	HCY	TAL	NHA	NZH	CLT DNQ	DOV	RCH	PPR	GLN	MLW	MYB	CAL	SBO	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	GTY	CAR	ATL	HOM		NA	-
1999	Jarrett/Favre Motorsports	11	Ford	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR	TEX 5	NSV	BRI	TAL	CAL DNQ	NHA	RCH	NZH	CLT DNQ	DOV 11	SBO	GLN	MLW	MYB	PPR	GTY	IRP 16	MCH 33	BRI DNQ	DAR	RCH DNQ	DOV 5	CLT DNQ	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM	61st	619
2000	SABCO Racing	42	Chevy	DAY 39	CAR 31	LVS DNQ	ATL 10	DAR 19	BRI 30	TEX 16	NSV	TAL 9	CAL 32	RCH DNQ	NHA	CLT 20	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM	50th	852

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	NCTC	Pts
1996	MB Motorsports	22	Ford	HOM	PHO 32	POR	EVG	TUS	CNS	HPT	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	I70	IRP	FLM	GLN	NSV												45th	468
	Liberty Racing	62	Ford																	RCH 5	NHA	MAR	NWS	SON
		98																							MMR 15	PHO 26	LVS 40
1997				WDW 7	TUS 14	HOM 1	PHO 17	POR 15	EVG 5	I70 14	NHA 5	TEX 1	BRI 26	NZH 27	MLW 15	LVL 18	CNS 14	HPT 18	IRP 7	FLM 25	NSV 21	GLN 28	RCH 5	MAR 8	SON 31	MMR 16	CAL 3	PHO 4	LVS 25		10th	3220
1998	Ultra Motorsports	28	Ford	WDW	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	GLN	TEX	BRI	MLW	NZH	CAL	PPR	IRP	NHA	FLM	NSV	HPT	LVL	RCH	MEM	GTY	MAR	SON	MMR	PHO 20	LVS	92nd	103

References

1. Smith, Marty (July 6, 2000). "Dial it up, Irwin a contender at NHIS". NASCAR.com. ESPN. Archived from the original on August 23, 2000. Retrieved 2012-06-12.
2. CNN report on YouTube

External links

• Kenny Irwin Jr. Foundation
• Kenny Irwin Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Remembering Kenny Irwin at NASCAR.com
• Dare to Dream Camp - Link