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Kenny Irwin Jr.
Irwin in 1998
Born	Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. (1969-08-05)August 5, 1969 Indianapolis,Indiana, U.S.
Died	July 7, 2000(2000-07-07) (aged 30) Loudon, New Hampshire, U.S.
Cause of death	Basilar skull fracture due to auto racing accident.
Achievements	1996USAC National Midget Champion
Awards	1998 Winston Cup SeriesRookie of the Year 1997 Craftsman Truck SeriesRookie of the Year
NASCARCup Series career
87 races run over 4 years
Best finish	19th (1999)
First race	1997Exide NASCAR Select Batteries 400 (Richmond)
Last race	2000Pepsi 400 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 12 3
NASCARO'Reilly Auto Parts Series career
14 races run over 2 years
Best finish	50th (2000)
First race	1999Coca-Cola 300 (Texas)
Last race	2000Carquest Auto Parts 300 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 4 0
NASCARCraftsman Truck Series career
32 races run over 3 years
Best finish	10th (1997)
First race	1996Chevy Desert Star Classic (Phoenix)
Last race	1998GM Goodwrench Service Plus / AC Delco 300 (Phoenix)
First win	1997Florida Dodge Dealers 400K (Homestead)
Last win	1997Pronto Auto Parts 400K (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 2 11 1

Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. (August 5, 1969 – July 7, 2000) was an Americanstock car racing driver. He had driven in all threeNASCAR national touring series, and had two total victories, both in theCraftsman Truck Series. Before that, he raced in theUnited States Auto Club againstTony Stewart, who was one of his fiercest rivals. He died as a result of injuries suffered in a crash during a practice session atNew Hampshire Motor Speedway.

Irwin grew up inIndianapolis and was the third youngest of four children. He began racingquarter-midgets before he was in the second grade. He graduated fromLawrence North High School in 1988 where he played varsitysoccer, while continuing his career as a driver. Between 1988 and 1991, he earned hisSCCA competition license and competed in the GT1 category, driving a turbocharged Buick Grand National, then raced for his father in theIMSA American Challenge (road racing) stock car series, all while he was still a teenager.

Irwin then went on to race inUSAC. He began open wheel racing in 1991. He had seven career USAC Sprint Car Series wins, and was the series Rookie of the Year in 1993. In 1994, he was the USAC Silver Crown Series Rookie of the Year and finished second in the 1995 USAC standings. In 1996, he was the USAC National Midget Series champion. After his successful run in USAC, many open-wheel enthusiasts began comparing him to NASCAR starJeff Gordon.^{[citation needed]}

Irwin began his major-league NASCAR career in theCraftsman Truck Series. He made his debut in that series in 1996 atPhoenix International Raceway, driving the No. 26Ford F-150 forMB Motorsports. He started and finished 32nd after an engine failure. In his second start atRichmond International Raceway, he won the pole in the No. 62Raybestos Ford forLiberty Racing, finishing fifth in the event.

He moved up to drive full-time in 1997, driving the No. 98 Ford forLiberty Racing. He had two wins, seven top-fives, and ten top-ten finishes that season, on his way to a tenth-place finish in the final point standings. He also wonRookie of the Year honors that season. Irwin also made his debut in theWinston Cup Series in 1997 withDavid Blair Motorsports at Richmond. He qualified on the outside pole and led for twelve laps, finishing in eighth place. He ran three more races with Blair that season, qualifying no worse than eleventh.

"Everyone has been hoping to find the next Jeff Gordon, I think we found him."

Irwin won the 1998 Rookie of the Year award in the Cup Series driving theRobert Yates Racing No. 28 car, replacingErnie Irvan. Irwin started the 1998 season by winning theAutomobile Racing Club of America race in Daytona in February in a car owned by Yates. During that season, he had one pole, one top-five, and four top-ten finishes on his way to a disappointing 28th-place finish in the final points standings. In 1999, he had two poles, two top-five and six top-ten finishes and finished nineteenth place finish in the final points standings.

Irwin made his debut in the NASCARBusch Series in 1999, driving the No. 11Ford Taurus owned by his teammate,Dale Jarrett, and then-Green Bay Packers quarterbackBrett Favre. He had two fifth-place finishes in five starts in the series during the 1999 season, atTexas Motor Speedway andDover International Speedway, respectively.

He is also known for one incident where he bumped the car ofTony Stewart, a former rival of his in USAC open-wheel competition, into the wall in the NAPA Autocare 500 at Martinsville Speedway. After Stewart wrecked Irwin twice in the same race in turn four, Irwin retaliated against Stewart by spinning him in turn 1 on the restart. Stewart exited his wrecked car, clapped at Irwin, threw his gloves at his car, and tried to enter Irwin's car as it was driving under the caution flag in a show of displeasure.

For the 2000 season Irwin was tabbed byFelix Sabates to replaceJoe Nemechek inTeam SABCO's No. 42 Chevrolet. He had a single top-ten finish, fourth atTalladega Superspeedway, in his first seventeen races with the team. He made nine starts in the Busch Series for SABCO as well, posting a best finish of ninth at Talladega. His final race for the team was atDaytona International Speedway in thePepsi 400, finishing 22nd; he was seen as having a bright future with the team, which had just had a majority interest purchased byChip Ganassi.^[1]

During practice for thethatlook.com 300 atNew Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 7, 2000, Irwin slammed head on into the wall, causing his car to flip onto its side. According to fellow driverBrett Bodine speaking toCNN, the car slid along its side for a long time before rolling on its roof. Irwin likely died instantly of abasilar skull fracture at the age of 30. FellowIndiana native (and rival)Tony Stewart would win the race that Sunday, and donate the trophy to Irwin's parents.^[2] Irwin's accident was blamed on a stuck throttle, which was the same cause of the accident that had killedAdam Petty at nearly that exact spot on the track just two months prior.Ted Musgrave drove the renumbered No. 01 car for the remainder of the 2000 season. The car was renumbered to 41 in 2002 and Sabates brought back the 42 number in 2003 with driverJamie McMurray.

Irwin's parents founded the Kenny Irwin Jr. Foundation and the Dare to Dream Camp for underprivileged children located inNew Castle, Indiana in his honor. The2000 Brickyard 400, held on what would have been Irwin's 31st birthday, was dedicated in his memory.

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time.Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Wikimedia Commons has media related toKenny Irwin, Jr..

• Kenny Irwin Jr. Foundation
• Kenny Irwin Jr. driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Remembering Kenny Irwin at NASCAR.com
• Dare to Dream Camp - Link

• 1969 births
• 2000 deaths
• Racing drivers from Indianapolis
• NASCAR drivers
• ARCA Menards Series drivers
• American Speed Association drivers
• Racing drivers who died while racing
• Sports deaths in New Hampshire
• Robert Yates Racing drivers
• USAC Silver Crown Series drivers
• Daytona 500 drivers
• Coca-Cola 600 drivers
• Brickyard 400 drivers

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