It was forty years ago today that we lost a very talented and nice young man in an accident during a USAC sprint car race at Winchester, IN. James McElreath was on way through the ranks of USAC and had narrowly missed earning a starting spot for the Indianapolis 500 in May of 1977. I will never forget that tragic day.
I'll never forget, in the spring of that year, when James won the Hulman Classic, in the Amax Coal sponsored #23. There weren't too many drivers that my dad had more respect for than Jim McElreath, so it was a pretty happy day at our little section of backstretch fence. He beat so many drivers who are known as legends today, so there was definitely a feeling a new star was born. And it was such a sad day, on that day 40 years ago, to learn that this young star was gone. Gone way before his time.
Jerry
A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.
We were at Terre Haute when James won the Hulman Classic and unfortunately we were at Winchester on the tragic day James was lost. My new (and still!) wife and I had been married in her home town of Terre Haute on Saturday Oct. 15 and decided to stop at Winchester on our way back to Dayton where we both worked. Such a sad day!
That was a sad day. I don't really do Facebook, but the alias account I have got linked by a friend to a group called "real open wheel racers" at least I think that's it. Anyway, the great open wheel racer, Bobby Marshall post's regularly in that group. He's got a long history with the McElreath family. Check it out if you can. RIP James
I had met James at Eldora earlier that year and he sat and talked to me like we were friends.He became an instant racing hero to me and then I read where he had been killed at Winchester. ...man that crushed me....R.I.P.James
