[Ray3]

News story by WKOW 27 out of Madison, WI on Kevin Olson and his family.

https://www.wkow.com/news/he-was-my-...19b3cde96.html

[jdull99]

From our local paper -

RRS - Kevin Olson, one of the greatest auto racers to ever come out of Rockford, died Friday night from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Janesville, Wisconsin. He was 70.

His family confirmed his death on Facebook. His wife Nancy remains in critical condition in the hospital.

Olson is a member of the United States Auto Club Hall of Fame and a two-time USAC Midget Champion and five-time champion of the Badger Midget Auto Racing Association (BMARA).

Local racer David Gough moved up from Go-Karts to Midget cars in 1997 because of Olson's influence.

"Kevin was by far the most iconic race car driver to ever come out of Rockford," Gough said. "He's a legend in Midget car racing. Even in Australia and New Zealand, where he used to travel back in the day, everyone knows who Kevin Olson is. He was always someone you wanted to talk to everywhere you go.

"My dad was friends with him. That's how I got my interest in Midget racing. He'd take me up to Angell Park Speedway in Sun Prairie to watch Kevin. Kevin was always a prankster. He had some kind of scheme going on all the time. T-shirts or stink bombs in the bathrooms after the race. He was always up to something."

Olson won 47 races at Angell Park Speedway, the last in 2019 at age 68.

The BMARA called Olson "a larger than life individual" in a tribute story on its web site, noting he was "known for his silly antics, quick wit, and eccentric humor." Olson even wrote about many of his best pranks in a book: "Cages are for Monkeys: Unleashed with Kevin Olson, Racing's Zaniest Hall of Famer."

Olson loved to joke around, but he was always serious about racing, according to former rival Joe Corrigan of Loves Park.

"What I remember about Kevin is everybody liked him," Corrigan said. "On the track he was relentless, but off the track it didn't matter any more to him.

"There were two sides to Kevin. There was that fun side, but there was also a really serious side. Racing was his passion. When something is your passion, that's all you want to do. His whole life was centered around racing."

Olson began racing for Corrigan's father, Lyle, in the 1970s and later raced against Lyle's two sons, Roger and Joe, in the 1980s.

"When he was racing back then," Joe Corrigan said, "all the guys racing against him, they would all lie to one another and say, 'Oh, I'm not going to race there. That race means nothing.' But they then would all show up there because it was good competition."

Olson raced for 51 years and was inducted into the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 1997 and the United State Auto Club Hall of Fame in 2016.

Matt Trowbridge: mtrowbridge@rrstar.com; @matttrowbridge

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Remembering a legendary Rockford race car driver who died in Wisconsin auto accident

[jeffc5227]

I was extremely sad to hear of his passing he was one of the great ones. RIP KO and I hope you win all the races in heaven and have plenty of cold beer afterwards.

[toprowjim]

A friend told me one time at the Chili Bowl Kevin went to a taco stand in town and bought 100 tacos. In the pits he offered everyone he saw a taco.

[jdull99]

This 99% based stock car show (not just nascar; seems more short track based these days); this WI based weekly started off with their first segment about KO, including an interview from Greg Wilke. The host, Slinger announcer Todd Behling, compared him like Dick Trickle was to the stock car world (I have often thought that too) -

http://ltnradionetwork.com/

[55fan]

Godspeed my friend. Thank you for the many hours of entertainment you provided. Never a dull moment when KO was around.