John Nemechek

John Frank Nemechek (March 12, 1970 – March 21, 1997) was an American racing driver who competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Life and racing career

The younger brother of four-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Joe Nemechek, John followed his brother into racing, participating in his first race at the age of twelve in an 80 class dirtbike race. After a quick progression to the 250cc class, he moved onto mini-stock cars, where he raced against his brother, and eventually late-model stocks.

When he was not racing, Nemechek served as the front-tire changer on Joe's pit crew, and was on Joe's 1992 NASCAR Busch Series championship-winning team. He would begin attempting NASCAR races himself, and ran one Busch race at IRP in 1994. He finished 30th after his No. 89 Chevrolet suffered an engine failure. The following season, he began racing in the new Craftsman Truck Series, driving at first for Redding Motorsports, and then for his brother's NEMCO Motorsports. In the first year of competition, Nemechek ran 16 races and had two top-ten finishes. He followed that up with two more top-tens in 1996 and a thirteenth-place finish in points, running a single truck he built himself titled the War Wagon under his own team, Chek Racing.

Death On March 16, 1997, Nemechek was running a Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway when with 23 laps to go, he lost control and struck the first-turn wall, driver's side first, and hit his head on the wall, suffering head injuries. He was extracted and transported to a hospital, where he died five days later.

Legacy Following the incident, Homestead was reconfigured into a true oval with a six-degree banking to reduce the possibility of the type of crash that killed Nemechek. His brother Joe won a Busch Series race that November at the reconfigured circuit; he later named his son John Hunter after his late brother.

In 1999, when Joe won his first Cup Race at New Hampshire, he paid tribute to John over the radio while he took the checkered flag:

"This is for my brother John. I love you."

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.)

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 Pts Ref 1994 NEMCO Motorsports 89 Chevy DAY CAR RCH ATL MAR DAR HCY BRI ROU NHA NZH CLT DOV MYB GLN MLW SBO TAL HCY IRP30 MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT MAR CAR 92nd 73 1996 NEMCO Motorsports 89 Chevy DAY CARDNQ RCHDNQ ATL NSV DAR BRI HCY NZH CLT DOV SBO MYB GLN MLW NHA TAL IRP MCH BRI DAR RCH DOV CLT CAR HOM NA 0

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 Pts Ref 1995 Redding Motorsports 89 Chevy PHO13 TUS SGS 16th 1674 NEMCO Motorsports 87 Chevy MMR26 POR14 EVG27 I7023 LVL22 BRI29 MLW17 CNS15 HPT IRP8 FLM20 RCH19 MAR9 NWS22 SON MMR30 PHO19 1996 Chek Racing 8 Chevy HOM7 PHO14 POR12 EVG20 TUS17 CNS12 HPT21 BRI20 NZH20 MLW29 LVL10 I7016 IRP26 FLM14 GLN16 NSV21 RCH27 NHA20 MAR14 NWS19 SON16 MMR19 PHO17 LVS27 13th 2615 1997 WDW36 TUS20 HOM21 PHO POR EVG I70 NHA TEX BRI NZH MLW LVL CNS HPT IRP FLM NSV GLN RCH MAR SON MMR CAL PHO LVS 71st 258