Anthony Dean Roper (December 13, 1964 – October 14, 2000) was an American professional

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It or ...

driver. A competitor in the

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of thr ...

, he died after suffering injuries in a racing accident at

Texas Motor Speedway Texas Motor Speedway is a speedway located in the northernmost portion of the U.S. city of Fort Worth, Texas – the portion located in Denton County, Texas. The reconfigured track measures with banked 20° in turns 1 and 2 and banked 24 ...

Early career

Roper was born in

Springfield, Missouri Springfield is the third largest city in the U.S. state of Missouri and the county seat of Greene County. The city's population was 169,176 at the 2020 census. It is the principal city of the Springfield metropolitan area, which had an esti ...

, to

Dean Roper Carol Dean Roper (December 26, 1938 – August 19, 2001) was an American stock car driver from Fair Grove, Missouri. Roper won three consecutive USAC Stock Car championships between 1981 and 1983. He also competed part time in the NASCAR Winsto ...

and Shirley Medley. Growing up his family was heavily involved in auto racing, as his father was a noted competitor in ARCA and other stock car racing series. Roper started racing in 1986. For the next six years he raced in

IMCA Modified IMCA Modified is the top modified division sanctioned by the International Motor Contest Association.IMCA History
< ...

s and

late model A late model car is a car which has been recently designed or manufactured, often the latest model. (An early model car or classic car is a car old enough to be of historical interest; there is no usual intermediate term.) The precise definition ...

s on Midwest dirt and asphalt tracks. In 1992 he finished in second place for the

American Speed Association The American Speed Association (ASA) is a sanctioning body of motorsports in the United States formed in 1968. The Association was based in Pendleton, Indiana, and later in Daytona Beach, Florida. The ASA sanctioned asphalt and dirt tracks ...

Rookie of the Year Award. He started racing in the

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and ...

Craftsman Truck Series The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series is a pickup truck racing series owned and operated by the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, and is the only series in NASCAR to race production pickup truck based stock cars. The series is one of th ...

in 1995, and the

Busch Series The NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) is a stock car racing series organized by NASCAR. It is promoted as NASCAR's second-tier circuit to the organization's top level Cup Series. NXS events are frequently held as a support race on the day prior to a ...

in 1999.

Death

At the Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 400 at

on October 13, 2000, Roper was involved in an accident when he attempted to pass

Steve Grissom Steven Paul Grissom (born June 26, 1963) is an American former stock car racing driver. Grissom was the 1993 Busch Series champion and has eleven Busch wins in 185 starts. He turned down a scholarship to play quarterback at the University of Alab ...

and

Rick Ware Richard S. Ware (born August 6, 1963) is a professional racecar driver and owner of Rick Ware Racing. When he was nine years old, he began racing motocross and moved up to the BMX class when he was 12. In 1983, he was named Rookie of the Year i ...

. Roper's Ford made contact with Grissom's front bumper causing it to take a sudden hard-right turn, which then caused the truck to impact the concrete wall of the tri-oval. An unconscious, unresponsive Roper was extricated from his truck, taken to the infield care center at TMS, and subsequently airlifted to Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital. Roper was determined to have a severe neck injury which prevented the flow of blood to his brain. He was put on a ventilator, and succumbed to the injury the day after the race, aged 35. Roper was the third NASCAR driver to perish from racing related injuries in 2000, the first two being Adam Petty and

Kenny Irwin Jr. Kenneth Dale Irwin Jr. (August 5, 1969 – July 7, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver. He had driven in all three NASCAR national touring series, and had two total victories, both in the Craftsman Truck Series (today Camping World Truck ...

, respectively. It was the second fatality in the Craftsman Truck Series, the first being that of

John Nemechek John Frank Nemechek (March 12, 1970 – March 21, 1997) was an American racing driver who most notably competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Life and racing career The younger brother of four-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Joe Nem ...

in 1997. Roper's was the first racing fatality recorded at Texas Motor Speedway. A funeral service for Roper was held at the Fair Grove High School gymnasium, where he graduated from. More than 600 people attended. Tony's father,

, died in a crash just a year later (his death was caused by a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...

, not the crash itself), on August 19, 2001. Both Tony and his father Dean died in racing accidents within 10 months of each other.

Legacy

The Tony Roper Scholarship Fund was founded after Roper's death. As of now, it is still running to this day. Roper's death would be one of 5 deaths within the span of two years that would lead NASCAR to implement and mandate the HANS device in every single car and driver.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

( key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

Craftsman Truck Series

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Roper, Tony 1964 births 2000 deaths Sportspeople from Springfield, Missouri Racing drivers from Missouri NASCAR drivers American Speed Association drivers Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Texas Filmed deaths in motorsport Burials in Missouri