Scott Liebler (December 22, 1959 - October 14, 1989) was a racing driver from

Manhattan, Kansas Manhattan is a city and county seat of Riley County, Kansas, United States, although the city extends into Pottawatomie County. It is located in northeastern Kansas at the junction of the Kansas River and Big Blue River. As of the 2020 c ...

. To date Liebler is one of two racing deaths during the

SCCA National Championship Runoffs The SCCA National Championship Runoffs is the end-of-year championship race meeting for Sports Car Club of America Club Racing competitors. Divisional champions and other top drivers from the SCCA's 116 regions are invited to participate at the ...

, along with

Jim Ladd Jim Ladd (born January 17, 1948), an American disc jockey, radio producer and writer, is one of the few notable remaining freeform rock DJs in United States commercial radio. Ladd first gained national prominence as host of the hour long, natio ...

Racing career

After competing in

autocross Autocross (also called "Solo", "Auto-x" or "Autoslalom") is a timed competition in which drivers navigate one at a time through a defined course on either a sealed or an unsealed surface. It is a form of motorsports that emphasizes safe competitio ...

, Liebler raced in various

SCCA The Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) is a non-profit American automobile club and sanctioning body supporting road racing, rallying, and autocross in the United States. Formed in 1944, it runs many programs for both amateur and professional ...

single seater classes since 1979. Liebler was set to make his Runoffs debut in 1983. In a Citation- Zink Z18B he failed to qualify in the

Formula Vee Formula Vee (Formula Fau Vee in Brazil and Germany) or Formula Volkswagen is a popular open wheel, single-seater junior motor racing formula, with relatively low costs in comparison to Formula Ford. On the international stage, Niki Lauda, E ...

class. He returned in 1985 in the

Formula Atlantic Formula Atlantic is a specification of open-wheel racing car developed in the 1970s. It was used in professional racing through the IMSA Atlantic Championship until 2009 and is currently primarily used in amateur racing through Sports Car Club o ...

class in a

Ralt Ralt was a manufacturer of single-seater racing cars, founded by ex-Jack Brabham associate Ron Tauranac after he sold out his interest in Brabham to Bernie Ecclestone. Ron and his brother had built some specials in Australia in the 1950s und ...

RT4. Liebler qualified eleventh and finished the race in ninth place. Between 1986 and 1989 the Kansas based driver won the Midwest Division championship in the Formula Atlantic class four consecutive times. In 1987 Liebler had a heavy crash at the Lake Afton Grand Prix, near

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 397,532. The Wichita metro area had a population of 647,610 in 2020. It is located in ...

. At the street circuit Liebler hit a pole splitting his car in two pieces. In the violent crash the driver suffered a broken pelvis, cracked teeth and double vision for almost six months. His best result at the Runoffs came in 1988. At

Road Atlanta Road Atlanta (known for sponsorship reasons as Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta) is a road course located just north of Braselton, Georgia, United States. The facility is utilized for a wide variety of events, including professional and amateur spo ...

Liebler finished in fourth place. The following year Liebler competed at his home track,

Heartland Park Topeka Heartland Motorsports Park, formerly known as Heartland Park Topeka, is a multi-purpose motorsports facility south of downtown Topeka, Kansas near the Topeka Regional Airport. When it opened in 1989, Heartland Motorsports Park was the first new ...

, in the

Atlantic Championship The Atlantic Championship is a formula race car series with races throughout North America. It has been called Champ Car Atlantics (after its former name), Toyota Atlantics (due to the series' previous history of using Toyota-powered engines) ...

East championship race. Liebler finished thirteenth overall, third in the B Class for older cars.

Fatal accident

As he won the SCCA Midwest Division championship in the Formula Atlantic class, Liebler qualified to compete in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. The fast driver ran a

Martini Martini may refer to: * Martini (cocktail) * Martini (vermouth), a brand of vermouth * Martini (surname), an Italian surname * Martini (automobile company), a Swiss automobile company * Automobiles Martini, a French manufacturer of racing cars * M ...

Mk.53 with a

Volkswagen Volkswagen (),English: , . abbreviated as VW (), is a German motor vehicle manufacturer headquartered in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony, Germany. Founded in 1937 by the German Labour Front under the Nazi Party and revived into a global brand post-W ...

engine. Liebler qualified in eighth place for the race on Saturday. In turn 11 corner, Liebler's front tire touched the rear tire of Jim Brouk's Ralt RT4. Liebler's car launched into the air and rolled several times before coming to rest a 100 yards after the crash. The injured driver was transported to Northeast Georgia Medical Center in nearby Gainesville, Georgia. Liebler died Sunday night of

Cerebral edema Cerebral edema is excess accumulation of fluid ( edema) in the intracellular or extracellular spaces of the brain. This typically causes impaired nerve function, increased pressure within the skull, and can eventually lead to direct compres ...

Complete motorsports results

SCCA National Championship Runoffs

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Liebler, Scott 1959 births 1989 deaths People from Manhattan, Kansas Racing drivers from Kansas Atlantic Championship drivers SCCA National Championship Runoffs participants Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Georgia (U.S. state)