7 replies to this topic

[ensign14]

Damn.  One of the longest-serving racing drivers on record has been killed in a road accident.  Even more tragically, along with his son.  He was 83.

 

They were passengers in their race transporter coming back from the Talladega ARCA race when it went down an embankment.  The driver is seriously injured.

 

The first time I'd heard of Hylton was in the Greg Fielden books.  I always looked for the privateers, those who perennially struggled to get into the top 10, and he was palpably the best of them; forever running towards the front, although he only scored two wins. 

 

The second of those was a real up yours to NASCAR, which had begun the winnowing process to get the under-funded teams off the grid.  One of the measures was to bring in new tyres which they could not afford - and which turned out to be the key to winning the big one at Dega.  The new tyres did not work and suddenly Hylton was battling for the win with Junie Donlavey's Ramo Stott.  The pair of them were five laps clear of Bobby Allison by the end.  One underfunded privateer who did well out of that race was Darrell Waltrip; his early retirement meant he could sell his old tyres to the leading teams...

 

He was 78 years old when he ran his last NASCAR race, an ARCA event at Kansas, finishing three places behind Milka Duno.

 

But his real forte was in points gathering.  When others went hell for leather, he knew how to massage his limited equipment to finish after finish.  Hence he made the top 10 of the Grand National standings every year from 1966 to 1973, all bar one in the top five. 

 

 

RIP to the "other" 48...

 

 

[Jack-the-Lad]

Terribly sad news, especially under the circumstances.

[JacnGille]

Sad news

[dbltop]

I still think of him as THE 48.

[E1pix]

RIP, James, thanks for living and leaving for our sport.

[Jim Thurman]

James Hylton started out as a well-respected and successful crew chief/engine man. He was crew chief for the Chevrolet of Rex White when White won the 1960 championship, then moved over to the Bondy Long Ford team when White scaled back his racing. There, he was crew chief for Ned Jarrett when he won the 1965 championship. Once, when he became disgusted with NASCAR, he was quoted in Autoweek as saying he might leave because he had offers to work on engines for a Can-Am team. 

 

About that...it also should not be forgotten that NASCAR changed their point system twice, pretty much solely because James Hylton came close to winning the championship as an "independent."

 

Much of his time was spent giving "a real up yours to NASCAR", because of the way he felt he had been treated. See above for prime example. Of the many who have had gripes or battles with NASCAR, it's difficult to find one more legitimate. I wholeheartedly supported his efforts 

Edited by Jim Thurman, 30 April 2018 - 17:14.

[Obster]

I used to read about him in Stock Car Racing magazines in the early 70's.

Always rooted for him as an underdog.

#48 forever.

[B Squared]

From Racer and Robin Miller's latest Q&A:

Q: I know it’s not IndyCar-related, but I’m sure you heard about the tragic passing of stock car racing legend James Hylton and his son in a highway accident. James was one of my racing heroes growing up, and I was able to meet him and talk to him on a few occasions. He was very down to earth and always had an interesting story to tell. One time I asked him if he ever had any interest or opportunities in Indy cars when he was in his prime. He told me he never got to drive an Indy car, but one year at Indy he got to sit in Foyt’s car and he thought it was pretty cool. I imagine that random people wouldn’t climb into A.J.’s car, so I’m guessing they knew each other pretty well. I know you talk to A.J. regularly, so I was wondering if you could ask him about James and share any stories or insights he has with the Mailbag readers.

RM: I called A.J. and he was very sad to learn about Hylton’s passing: “James was a good friend of mine, and he came to Indy once and I told him he should go out a take a few laps, but all he wanted to do was sit in my car. I think he was still racing in his 70s, and the last time I saw him I told him he was getting kinda old to be driving, and he just laughed. It’s a real shame. He was a helluva guy.”