Wallace Campbell (July 16, 1926 – July 17, 1954) was an American

stock car 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 ori ...

midget Midget (from ''midge'', a tiny biting insect) is a term for a person of unusually short stature that is considered by some to be pejorative due to its etymology. While not a medical term like "dwarfism", a medical condition with a number of ca ...

, and

sprint car Sprint cars are high-powered open-wheel race cars, designed primarily for the purpose of running on short oval or circular dirt or paved tracks. Sprint car racing is popular primarily in the United States and Canada, as well as in Australia, New ...

racer from

Trenton, New Jersey Trenton is the capital city of the U.S. state of New Jersey and the county seat of Mercer County. It was the capital of the United States from November 1 to December 24, 1784.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 ...

Modified champion and the 1953 AAA Eastern Division Sprint Car Rookie of the Year. Campbell was killed practicing for an AAA Midwestern Division sprint car race at Salem, Indiana on July 17, 1954. He was one day past his 28th birthday.

Career highlights

Campbell began his stock car career at Flemington Fairgrounds in New Jersey in 1947, where he promptly rolled the car over. By the end of 1947, he was the champion of the newly formed American Stock Car Racing Association (ASCRA). He finished 6th in points in 1948, then won the title in both 1949 and 1950. 1951 brought the NASCAR Modified title, and in 1952 he finished second in points to

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia ...

in the

NASCAR Speedway Division The NASCAR Speedway Division was a short-lived series brought forth in 1952 by NASCAR president and founder Bill France Sr. The series consisted of open-wheel race cars competing with stock engines. The idea of the series was to draw from the popu ...

. In 1953 he won five AAA sprint car races after getting a late start in August. He attempted qualifying at Indianapolis in 1954, but was sent home to get "more experience". He made two AAA

Championship Car American open-wheel car racing, also known as Indy car racing, is a category of professional automobile racing in the United States. As of 2022, the top-level American open-wheel racing championship is sanctioned by IndyCar. Competitive event ...

race starts later that year at

Langhorne Speedway Langhorne Speedway was an automobile racetrack in Middletown Township, Bucks County, near the borough of Langhorne, Pennsylvania, a northern suburb of Philadelphia. According to the book ''Langhorne! No Man's Land'' by L. Spencer Riggs: "With a ...

and

Darlington Speedway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

but failed to finish in both races. He was leading the AAA Eastern Division in points at the time of his death.

Awards

He was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2011.

References

External links

The Unofficial Wally Campbell Website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Campbell, Wally 1926 births 1954 deaths NASCAR drivers Sportspeople from Trenton, New Jersey Racing drivers from New Jersey Racing drivers who died while racing Sports deaths in Indiana