1988 Daniel 500

The **1988 Daniel 500** was a race held and a very tragic occurrence at Daniel Raceway. It took place on Sunday, August 21st, 1988. The crash ended Alex Quint's career. The event occurred in the speedway's turn 3 when Mike Seasons lost control of his car and hit Alex. Alex then spun out and was hit in the gas tank by another car. Afterward, Alloy Wilson takes the lead and Seasons finishes 12th. It's one of the races of all part-time racers. Eugene Carbureski was not able to compete, due to himself being hurt from a helicopter accident, so Ross Gould replaced him.

Alloy Wilson won with The King second and Ryan Shields third.

## Television Biography

Network: ESPN

Announcers: Ken Sqwheeler and Ned Carrett

## The Race

### Background

Piston Cup officials say that Quint is one of the most talented Racers on the track but he states that Daniel Raceway is a pretty rough course for him. 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.

### 4:51 PM

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 in 1st place. As the race began, Quint had a great start while Chapcar was in 23rd, right behind James Robson in 22nd and Murray Clutchburn in 21st. Chapcar remembered his training with his father and quickly gains speed.

### 6:55 PM

Chapcar passes Jordan Powers and Klint Shiftright until he catches up on Seasons and Wilson. Quint just recently recovered from illness so he wasn't that efficient and fast. Chapcar was one of those racers with a new design, which is a 1988 Stodgey Suaver EX upgrade. Quint was speeding so Chapcar couldn't pass but wasn't planning to hit him cause he isn't rude as he said in an interview. Chapcar then passed John Lowtire, Jonathan Melter and Quint while the three were getting frightened. While all cars were pitting, Quint was the first one to leave (pit stop is 14.8 seconds) and then Chapcar exited second (18.1 seconds). Chapcar was far behind in second place with Alloy Wilson in third.

### 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 not to 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. Meanwhile Claude Scruggs blows his engine on the 83rd lap of the race causing him to go to the pits and retire.

### 9:58 PM

Quint is tailing Chapcar as good as possible when suddenly Mike Seasons loses control and crashes into Quint as well as some other cars, later on, Ross Gould, Eugene Carbureski’s backup crashed into Quint’s gas tank and causing him to catch fire and flip 22 times which was a record that was only broken by Sheldon Shifter in 2022.

### Aftermath

After Quint’s crash he left racing for good. Leader Alloy Wilson was shocked at the crash and after winning the race he dedicated the win to Alex. Also Ross Gould the crash permanently left Tank Coat as well. Quint’s career ending crash was so scary and nearly gave 1988 a second death after the brutal accident of Tom Landis.

## Transcript

### Lap 83 engine

Ken: Claude Scruggs’ engine fails!

Claude: Oh no!

### The crash of Alex Quint

Ned Carrett: TROUBLE! MIKE SEASONS TOO LOW! HE HITS ALEX QUINT! QUINT DOES A PIT MANEUVER ON COLE SPEEDLAND! SPEEDLAND'S AIRBORNE! OH MY GOD! ARE YOU SEEING WHAT I'M SEEING?!

Ken Sqwheeler: I DON'T BELIEVE THIS! SEASONS AND QUINT CRASH! QUINT HIT IN GAS TANK BY ROSS GOULD!

Ned Carrett: Well It's Alloy Wilson for the win and the crowd is so silent here at Daniel Raceway. Here goes nothing here at the Ulysses Mining team radio.

(Quint radio)

George Ford: Guys, what is Quint doing here?!

(No radio, just racers and teams talking)

Quint (weak): I'm fine.

George: ALEX!

(Quint faints)

(George cries hard)

(Alloy radio)

Alloy: This is for you Alex!

Ned Carrett: Besides Ross Gould, Cole Speedland, Mike Seasons and Alex Quint there were 3 other cars involved. Not directly involved but they spun trying to dodge the wreckage. They are Taylor Bendy, James Robson and rookie Jack Spinner.

Ken Sqwheeler: All worries on Alex Quint.

## Results

1. Alloy Wilson - 200 Laps
2. Don Chapcar - 200 laps
3. Strip Weathers - 200 laps
4. Ryan Shields - 200 laps
5. Chick Hicks - 200 laps
6. Johnathan Melter - 200 laps
7. Dale Earnhardt Sr - 200 laps
8. Murray Clutchburn - 200 laps
9. Darrell Cartrip - 200 laps
10. Ernie Gearson - 200 laps
11. Kraig Shiftright - 200 laps
12. Klint Shiftright - 200 laps
13. Larry Smith - 200 laps
14. Misti Motorkrass - 200 laps
15. Andrew Axler - 200 laps
16. Ruby Oaks - 200 laps
17. Rusty Cornfuel - 200 laps
18. Ron Pitcar - 200 laps
19. Crusty Rotor - 200 laps
20. Greg Candyman - 200 laps
21. Thomas Tanrev - 200 laps
22. Don Alternators - 200 laps
23. James Cleanair - 200 laps
24. Slide Powers - 200 laps
25. Brush Curber - 200 laps
26. Mike Yankee - 200 laps
27. Kevin Racingtire - 200 laps
28. Billy Oilchanger - 200 laps
29. Slide Powers - 200 laps
30. Brad Gonzalez - 200 laps
31. Greg Locke - 199 laps
32. Jordan Powers Sr - 199 laps
33. Haul Inngas - 199 laps
34. Guy Wheelson (Part-Time in 44) - 199 laps
35. Ross Gould - 199 laps(crash)
36. Alex Quint - 199 laps(career ending crash)
37. Mike Seasons - 199 laps(spun)
38. Taylor Bendy - 199 laps(crash)
39. James Robson - 199 laps(crash)
40. Jack Spinner - 199 laps(crash)
41. Cole Speedland - 199 laps(crash)
42. Claude Scruggs - 83 laps(engine)
43. Sammy Smelter - 8 laps(hit the wall, of course)