Rich Vogler

Rich Vogler

Vogler works on his sprint car in 1986
Born Richard Frank Vogler
July 26, 1950
Chicago, Illinois
Died July 21, 1990(1990-07-21) (aged 39)
Salem, Indiana
Cause of death Racing accident
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
1 race run over 1 year
Best finish 76th (1988)
First race 1988 Goodwrench 200 (Rockingham)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 0 0

Richard Frank Vogler (July 26, 1950 – July 21, 1990) was a champion sprint car and midget car driver. He was nicknamed "Rapid Rich".[1] He competed in the Indianapolis 500 five times, and his best finish was eighth in 1989.

Racing career

Vogler was the National Alliance of Midget Auto Racing (NAMAR) midget champion in 1973. He won the midget car track championships at the Indianapolis Speedrome in 1984 and 1985. He won the Fireman Nationals midget car race at Angell Park Speedway in 1985. Vogler became the first driver to win the USAC Sprint Car and Midget championships in the same year (1980).[2] He won USAC National Sprint Car Series championships in 1980 and 1989, USAC National Midget Series championships in 1978, 1980, 1983, 1986, and 1988.

He won numerous major national events: the Hut Hundred eight times, the 4-Crown Nationals midget car event four times, the Copper Classic twice, the Hoosierdome Invitational twice, the WWRA Florida Winter Nationals in 1983, and the Night Before the 500 once.[1] In 1987 he won the inaugural Chili Bowl Midget Nationals race.[3]

Vogler finished seventeenth in his only NASCAR Busch Series start at the North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham in 1988.[4]

Career summary

Vogler in 1986

His 134 wins (95 Midget, 35 Sprint, and four Silver Crown wins) in national events is second only to A. J. Foyt's 169.[1][3] Vogler had 170 total USAC wins, and won over 200 "outlaw" (non-USAC) midget races.

Death

Days before his 40th birthday, Vogler was competing in a nationally broadcast ESPN Thunder Joe James / Pat O'Connor Memorial sprint car event at Salem Speedway. He was leading the race at the time, when his car crashed with just over a lap to go. Vogler's helmet flew off of his head and he suffered severe head injuries that proved to be fatal.[5] Because of USAC rules on a red flag reverting to the previous completed lap, he was declared the winner of the event following his death, which was his 170th win. He was scheduled to make his NASCAR Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup) series debut at Pocono Raceway the day after his fatal crash. He was awarded a 40th-place finish (as a "Did Not Start").[6]

The Pocono race was not his first attempted NASCAR Winston Cup start: two weeks before, he entered the Michigan race but failed to qualify.

Memorials

His mother Eleanor started a college scholarship fund for aspiring Indiana students as part of Rich's concern over his sons, and the fund was started by USAC officials and sponsor Valvoline.

The first major fund-raiser for the fund has been a Daytona 500 viewing party in Indianapolis, today well-attended with a silent auction and notable names in auto racing in the state as guests. Usually, his mother and his sons appear at the annual fund-raiser. In 2008, the viewing party was moved to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, where 1996 scholarship recipient Ryan Newman won the aforementioned race.

In April 1991, Winchester Speedway began the annual season-opening Rich Vogler Classic sprint car race, usually the first race at the track each year.

There is also a Team Vogler classic at the Indianapolis Speedrome. His father Donald Vogler died in a midget car accident at the Indianapolis Speedrome on May 1, 1981.

Career awards

Motorsports career results

Complete USAC Mini-Indy Series results

Year Entrant 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Pos Points
1978 United States
PIR1		 United States
TRE1		 Canada
MOS		 United States
MIL1		 United States
TEX		 United States
MIL2		 United States
OMS1
22		 United States
OMS2		 United States
TRE2
10		 United States
PIR2		 39th 33
1979 United States
TEX1
2		 United States
IRP
6		 United States
MIL1		 United States
POC
26		 United States
TEX2		 United States
MIL2		 United States
MIN1		 United States
MIN2		 13th 242

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

Busch Series

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Biography at the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame, Retrieved January 3, 2007
  2. ↑ Biography at the Rich Vogler Memorial Scholarship Fund, Retrieved January 3, 2007
  3. 1 2 Driver profile Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, Retrieved January 3, 2007
  4. ↑ NASCAR Statistics at racing-reference.info, Retrieved January 3, 2007
  5. ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1990-07-22/sports/sp-965_1_sprint-car-race
  6. ↑ NASCAR Winston Cup results from July Pocono race, Retrieved January 3, 2007
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rich Vogler.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/24/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.