Fans, friends, competitors honor Bryan Clauson in Iowa
KNOXVILLE, Iowa — Danica Patrick sold caps and shirts with Bryan Clauson’s name.
Ricky Stenhouse Jr. drove his car.
And racers Clauson once called competitors wore his t-shirts.
The auto racing world honored Clauson — the popular driver who died in a race earlier this month — during this week's races at the Knoxville Nationals.
“It’s a huge loss for not only the racing community, but for everybody,” said racer Joey Saldana. “He was just a good guy.”
The 27-year-old was killed while racing at Belleville, Kan., earlier this month. Clauson’s car reportedly flipped several times before being hit by a trailing car.
His death rocked the racing world. Clauson won two U.S. Auto Club national sprint car championships and two USAC national midget car championships. He finished with 170 feature wins during his career, including the Chili Bowl in 2014.
As successful as Clauson was on the track, he may have been more popular off it with his peers. That’s why the news of his death struck such a chord among drivers, even as they prepared for the Knoxville Nationals, sprint car racing’s crown jewel.
“The first couple of days after it happened, it was hard to keep your mind on what happened,” said racer Kyle Larson.
Drivers banded together to support the California native, his team and his family. Fans formed a long line at his merchandise truck at Knoxville, lining up hours before it opened. Patrick helped man the truck, selling merchandise to fans.
Clauson’s car served as the honorary pace car for Thursday night’s qualifying heats — an event he was supposed to take part in. Stenhouse Jr., a close friend of Clauson’s, drove his buddy's car. Green shirts with Clauson’s name were common among fans and drivers in attendance.
“It’s neat to see the outpouring of support that everybody’s giving the Clauson family,” Saldana said.
For some, the sudden death was an eye-opener.
“Finding out about Bryan makes you never want to get in a race car again,” said racer Donny Schatz. “It says, ‘Man, I don’t know if I’d want to put my family through that.’ So, you try to find your spot that takes you out of that mind frame and takes that thought away from you. The only spot for that is in that race car. Bryan was a racer’s racer. He was respected by every single person that I’ve known.
“I know what he would want — he would want to be here racing,” Schatz said. “It puts a big black cloud over our spot, but that’s the nature of the beast.”
Birch writes for the Des Moines Register, part of the Paste BN NETWORK.