Death
Weatherly died on January 19, 1964 from head injuries sustained in a racing accident at the fifth race of the 1964 season at Riverside International Raceway. His head went outside the car and struck a retaining wall, killing him instantly. Weatherly was not wearing a shoulder harness, and did not have a window net installed on his vehicle, because he was afraid of being trapped in a burning car.
He is one of two reigning champions of what is now known as the Sprint Cup Series to die during a season as the defending champion (1992 Winston Cup champion Alan Kulwicki, who died in a plane crash during the 1993 season, is the other) and the only one of the two to die during a race.
This tragedy eventually led NASCAR to mandate the window net, seven years later in 1971. Window nets are used in most stockcar racing series to this day.
Read more about this topic: Joe Weatherly
Famous quotes containing the word death:
“You’re very beautiful. So beautiful I’m going to make you immortal. Like Kharis, you will live forever. What I can do for you I can also do for myself. Neither time nor death can touch us. You and I together for eternity here in the temple of Karnak. You shall be my high priestess.”
—Griffin Jay, Maxwell Shane (1905–1983)
“She sought her happiness exclusively in the happiness of others. Death gave her her own.”
—Franz Grillparzer (1791–1872)
“For the wretched one night is like a thousand; for someone faring well death is just one more night.”
—Sophocles (497–406/5 B.C.)