1988 JLP 500: The Death of Don Chapcar

The **Death of Don Chapcar**was a tragic occurrence in the 1988 JLP 500 at the Georgia Superspeedway. The crash ended Ulysses Mining Co./Carman's Bar & Grill racer Alex Quint's career and ended Rap Aid racer Don Chapcar's life. The event occurred in the speedway's turn 3 when Mike Seasons lost control and hit Quint while drafting with Chapcar. Chapcar then accidentally turned right and hit the metal fence, causing Chapcar and Quint to crash outside the speedway. After both flew off the track, Alloy Wilson takes the lead, wins and Seasons finishes 12th.

## History

### Background

Piston Cup officials say that Chapcar is one of the most talented racers on the track. He mostly makes his wins at Rustbelt but he states that Georgia is a pretty rough course for him. Quint was also a champion in the Piston Cup (winning the Georgia 500 in 1975) but feared that Chapcar would make a win. Quint is mostly the first racer to run out of the pits because of how fast his crew is, he thinks it helps him win.

### 10:50 AM

The 1988 Daniel 500 was about to begin and all cars were lined up at the pits. Quint was the car in first and was behind the pace car named Aaron MacTire in 1st place. As the race begun, Quint had a great start while Chapcar was in 23rd. Chapcar remembered his training with his father and quickly gains speed.

### 1:52 PM

Chapcar passes 7th place Slide Powers of Sidewall Shine and 8th place Klint Shiftright of Clutch Aid until he catches up on Mike Seasons and Alloy Wilson. Quint was the oldest racer other than Strip "The King" Weathers on the track so he wasn't that efficient and fast. Chapcar was one of those racers with a new design. Quint was speeding so Chapcar couldn't pass but wasn't planning to hit him cause he isn't rude as he said on an interview. Chapcar then passed Cole Speedland and Jonathan Melter and Quint was getting frightened. While all cars were pitting, Quint was the first one to leave (at 11.6 seconds of pitting) and then Chapcar exited second (at 13.4 seconds). Chapcar was far behind in second place. Alex had an 11.6 second pit stop but had a 9.7 second one in the 1976 Florida 400 (his world record).

### 2:34 PM

Rain happened and the race was red flagged. It restarted at 6:08 PM.

### 7:32 PM

Racers had to pit again and Quint was going to pit for more fuel and tires while Chapcar was fine and didn't need to pit but he wanted to. His crew chief told him to not pit or finish in a low position but he had never won a race in Daniel but wanted to pit so it was a hard choice for Chapcar. Chapcar then glared at Quint and saw him changing tires, he then decided not to pit and went for the finish line. Quint then saw him and then yelled at his crew to hurry up. After the pits, Quint was behind Chapcar and couldn't catch up.

### 9:58 PM

Quint was in 2nd place and it was ltwo laps to go. Quint then unexpectedly was passed by Cole Speedland (who escaped a crash in the 1974 race while he wins). Speedland reached 1st and Seasons was behind Quint. Quint thought it was a great idea to draft with Chapcar. During the last lap Chapcar was in the lead with Quint on his tail. All fans were cheering on Chapcar and Quint until Mike Seasons gets too low and hits the ground, causing him to run out of control and hit Quint on the bumper, causing him to speed and then pushed Chapcar which made him accidentally do a PIT maneuver on Speedland, causing Speedland to spin and then go airborne 4 centimeters high into the field. As he went airborne, Quint was speeding while pushing Chapcar. Chapcar then accidentally turned left, causing him to go toward the metal fence and then hits it with Quint on his tail, both cars went flying out of the track while Alloy Wilson takes the lead. Speedland flipped over 12 times and landed on his wheels safely. All fans were silent after Alloy won the JLP 500. While Quint and Chapcar fell to the ground, Chapcar bursted into flames. After fire trucks removed the fire, ambulances took Quint and Chapcar to the hospital. Chapcar was then reported dead after taken to the hospital.

### Aftermath

After Chapcar's fatal crash, authorities thought Quint did it on purpose to keep Chapcar from winning and was sent to prison. They then discovered that it was by accident after the found out that Chapcar turned right. Quint was then sent out of prison.