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John Delphus McDuffie

Born	December 5, 1937(1937-12-05)
Hometown	Sanford, North Carolina
Died	August 11, 1991 (aged 52)
Cause of death	Race car crash in turn 5 at Watkins Glen International during the Bud at the Glen
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series statistics
653 races run over 27 years
Best cup position	9th - 1971 (Grand National)
First race	1963 Speedorama 200 (Myrtle Beach Speedway)
Last race	1991 The Bud at the Glen (Watkins Glen)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 106 1

John Delphus McDuffie (December 5, 1938 - August 11, 1991) was a Sprint Cup Series driver.

McDuffie made his debut in 1963 at Myrtle Beach Speedway, finishing 12th out of 18 drivers. He went on to finish in the top ten in points twice in his career and won the pole position for the 1978 Delaware 500. He fielded his own team for most of his career. His underfunded efforts made him a fan favorite, especially as his career ran down and he only ran selected races. He also was often seen in the garage smoking cigars and working on his racecar.

Death

McDuffie was involved in an accident in the opening laps of the 1991 Bud at the Glen race at Watkins Glen International Raceway. Turning into turn 5, a broken ball joint resulted in the loss of the right front wheel on his car, at perhaps the worst place in racing to have such a failure. Unable to slow the car at all, and with an absence of a gravel trap, McDuffie skidded across the grass and slammed with tremendous velocity into the tire barrier outside the high speed right-hander. The force of the impact flipped the car and kept it airborne as Jimmy Means, also collected in the accident, crashed underneath him. Means was able to slow his car substantially before crashing and avoid injury, but the sheer violence of J.D.'s impact with the tires is what rolled the car in the air.

McDuffie's fatal wreck, a serious injury to Tommy Kendall six weeks earlier in the Camel Continental VIII, and a crazy crash by Geoff Bodine in 1989 with two laps to go, led to a new bus stop chicane shortly before Turn 5 (now turn 9) to slow down cars entering the turn.

McDuffie's widow, Ima Jean, unsuccessfully (as of September 1993) sued Watkins Glen for $4.25 million, claiming the barrier McDuffie hit was unsafe. The judge in the case ruled that McDuffie was familiar enough with the track to be aware of the dangers and that mechanical failure caused the accident ^[1].

J.D. McDuffie is still the record holder for most starts in NASCAR's top touring series without recording a win. His 653 starts ranks him 17th in all-time starts (as of April 2009).

The day before his fatal crash, J.D. McDuffie won a celebrity race in Owego, New York at Shangri-La Speedway near Watkins Glen^[2].

Racing Champions made diecast cars of McDuffie after his death as a tribute, they can still be found in novelty stores.

References

External links

• Salute to J.D.
• Driver's statistics at racing-reference.info
• [1]-ESPN race coverage of JD McDuffie's crash for historical purposes only.