NASCAR Sportsman Division (1989–1995)
Open-knowledge reference entry
The NASCAR Sportsman Division is a discontinued NASCAR division. It was created by Humpy Wheeler in 1989 to give short track drivers superspeedway experience.
History
1989
In 1989, Humpy Wheeler, the president of Charlotte Motor Speedway, announced the creation of the Sportsman Division, a series in which drivers from short tracks could gain experience on superspeedways. The first Sportsman race was held after qualifying for the 1989 Coca-Cola 600, and was mostly clean. The race was won by Tim Bender.
1990
In 1990, the series' first fatality occurred. During practice, David Gaines and two other drivers were involved in an accident coming off of turn 4. As Steve McEachern came through the turn, he was unable to avoid David Gaines, and struck his car, killing him. McEachern flipped into the grass and came to rest on the grass next to pit road. That race was won by Robbie Faggart.
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This entry incorporates text from “NASCAR Sportsman Division (1989–1995)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.