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Grand Am driver dies at Homestead

Jeff Clinton is killed during a practice run when his car flips multiple times.

By Times staff and wire reports
© St. Petersburg Times
published March 2, 2002

HOMESTEAD -- The world of auto racing, scrutinized heavily over the past 13 months about its safety efforts, suffered another fatality Friday when Grand American series driver Jeff Clinton crashed and died.

Clinton, 38, was practicing for today's Nextel 250 at Homestead-Miami Speedway when his car veered off the course as he entered Turn 1 and started flipping repeatedly. He died at the scene.

"He was a great guy," said Mike Johnson, who owned Clinton's race team, Archangel Motorsport. "This was his fifth race with us, and we've just always had a lot of fun with him.

"He made it fun for us. He always brought the right attitude, the right style, the right everything. We're really going to miss him."

Johnson withdrew the second entry from the race.

Safety has been at the forefront in auto racing since the February 2001 death of Dale Earnhardt on the last lap of the Daytona 500. Earnhardt was the fourth driver to die in one of NASCAR's major series in 10 months.

Team officials declined to say whether Clinton was wearing a head-and-neck restraint. In the wake of Earnhardt's death, NASCAR mandated that drivers on its top-level series wear such devices, but many racers at lower levels still compete without them.

In November, the Charlotte Observer published a special report detailing racing-related deaths since 1990. It found 260 drivers, fans and workers had died, an average of 22 a year. During the span studied by the Observer, 28 racing deaths occurred in Florida, more than any other state.

Clinton's death is at least the second in Florida this season. In January, Ronald Laney died on the No. 2 turn at East Bay Raceway in Gibsonton while competing in the track's fourth annual King of the 360s event. The car spun around and was hit on the driver's side by another car.

According to the Hillsborough County Medical Examiner's office, Laney, 29, died instantly from neck injuries, the second fatality in the track's 26-year history.

Clinton finished 54th last month at the 24 Hours of Daytona, which is the marquee event on the Grand Am circuit. Grand Am is owned by the France family, which also owns NASCAR.

Clinton, who had sons ages 5 and 3, is the second driver to die at Homestead. In 1997, NASCAR truck racer John Nemechek died five days after sustaining massive brain injuries during a crash at the 11/2-mile oval.

Qualifying for the Nextel 250 was canceled and today's starting field was set by the series points standings. Grand Am cars returned to the track later for a final practice session. Clinton was president and chief operating officer of Grey Eagle Distributors, a distributor of Anheuser-Busch products.

He was the son of Grey Eagle owner Jerry Clinton, who headed St. Louis' unsuccessful effort to land an NFL expansion team in 1994. The NFL instead awarded franchises to Jacksonville and Charlotte. A short time later, Los Angeles Rams owner Georgia Frontiere moved the team to St. Louis.

"Jeff was a real nice individual," friend and fellow driver Harry Trimble said. "You couldn't find a better person on or off the track. If I ever needed a part he'd give it to me -- most of the time for free."

-- Information from Times files and the Associated Press was used in this report.

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