NASCAR is back at Watkins Glen this weekend, which provides a chance to remember the late J.D. McDuffie, who tragically died in a 1991 NASCAR race at the track.

McDuffie, 52 at the time, was involved in a Lap 5 accident, with his No. 70 suffering a mechanical failure at the fast right-hand corner known as “The Loop”. The car lost control at high speed, left the track, and slammed nearly head-on into a tire barrier and guardrail, leaving the entire front of the car destroyed and killing McDuffie instantly from head injuries.

McDuffie’s tragic passing came just shy of a decade before Dale Earnhardt Sr.’s death at the 2001 Daytona 500, with the pair two of around 108 drivers in total to die while competing. Meanwhile, Dale Sr’s wife, Theresa, has seen her $30 billion plans protested by a furious crowd of 200 people, while Dale Earnhardt Jr. has had the last laugh after their bitter dispute. 

McDuffie left behind an unfortunate NASCAR record. He competed in a whopping 653 NASCAR races and recorded 106 top-ten finishes. However, McDuffie never once finished on the lead lap.

Friend and fellow competitor Jimmy Means recounted the horror crash that took McDuffie’s life.

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“Actually, he (McDuffie) was behind me when we went into that corner. He was racing me so hard,” Means recalled to Speed Sport Magazine. “I remember commenting to myself, ‘Dang, J.D., you’re all over me.’ I remember thinking, ‘J.D. is tough today.’

“I turned off into the corner and something broke on his car right behind me. When he got to the corner, I was turning, and he couldn’t turn. He hit my nose and turned me into the fence and hit me. His car got into the air and turned sideways and there was nothing he could do. If we had the seats we have today he would have walked away.”

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Ernie Irvan went on to win the 1991 Budweiser race and went to Victory Lane. However, the win was far from sweet, following the loss of a rival. “After all I’ve been through, this is a great victory, but winning is tempered by J.D.’s death,” Irvan said.

“I dedicate this victory to him. Every time we went through the turn where he crashed, I thought about him. I’ve known what it is like to struggle in this sport without a sponsor just like he did, and I’ll always remember him.”

McDuffie was loved by NASCAR fans, particularly for his blue-collar background. Longtime motorsports writer and sports editor for the Fayetteville Observer, Thomas Pope, paid tribute to the late NASCAR star.

“Race fans loved J.D. because he was a blue-collar race car driver,” Pope said. “They were amazed that he could race against the best in the world at NASCAR’s highest level on the budget he had using the parts and pieces that he had.

“Somehow, he made it work for a very long time. He didn’t have the high-dollar sponsors all the other guys did but teams helped him with what he needed.”