Jim Roper
Jim Roper | |||||||
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Born | Christian David Roper August 13, 1916 Halstead, Kansas, U.S. | ||||||
Died | June 23, 2000 Newton, Kansas, U.S. | (aged 83)||||||
Cause of death | Heart and liver failure caused by cancer | ||||||
Achievements | Winner of first NASCAR race. | ||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
2 races run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 16th (1949) | ||||||
First race | Race No. 1 (Charlotte) | ||||||
Last race | 1949 Race No. 3 (Occoneechee) | ||||||
First win | Race No. 1 (Charlotte) | ||||||
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Christian David "Jim" Roper (August 13, 1916 – June 23, 2000) was a NASCAR driver. He lived in Halstead, Kansas. He is most known as the winner of the first ever NASCAR race at Charlotte.
Racing career
Roper lived at his grandfather's horse farm in Halstead. Roper was interested in playing basketball until his grandfather purchased a Chevrolet Pontiac car dealership and gave a 1930 Chevy to Roper. Roper said "I raced that thing seven nights a week, even in the middle of winter, on a figure-eight dirt track, the kind you pass in the middle both ways. I could get that Chevy up to speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour."[1]
Roper purchased a midget car in 1944. He was first able to use the car after World War II since all racing was halted in the United States during the war. He drove numerous types of cars after the war. He won the Beacon Championship at CeJay Speedway in Wichita, Kansas in 1947 in a track roadster. He also raced on the International Motor Contest Association (IMCA) circuit in Kansas, Iowa, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Missouri.
He was nicknamed "Alfalfa Jim" after he drove through a wooden fence into an alfalfa field, turned around, and finished the race with a car full of alfalfa.
NASCAR career
Roper heard about the
He used the same car to finish fifteenth in NASCAR's third race in his only other NASCAR start. He finished sixteenth in the 1949 final points standings.
Injury and end of racing career
Roper continued racing in midgets in Kansas until he broke a
On June 23, 2000, he died in Newton, Kansas from heart and liver complications related to cancer.[3][4]
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.)
Strictly Stock Series
NASCAR Strictly Stock Series results
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Year | Team | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | NSSC | Pts | Ref |
1949
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R. B. McIntosh | 34 | Lincoln | CLT 1 |
DAB
|
OCC 15 |
LAN | HAM
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MAR | HEI | NWS | 16th | 253 | [5] |
References
- ^ a b c d "50 Years of Speed". American Media Operations. 1997. p. 10.
- ^ "Motorsport.com: News channel". Archived from the original on 2011-06-06. Retrieved 2006-05-16.
- ^ "Racer Jim Roper, 83, Winston Cup Series' Pioneering Winner". The New York Times. July 1, 2000. Retrieved July 10, 2013.
- ^ Newton Reents, Jennifer (June 24, 2000). "First NASCAR race winner dies at age 83 in Newton". The Newton Kansan. Newton, KS. Archived from the original on 2003-07-08. Retrieved 2013-10-30.
- ^ "Jim Roper − 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Results". Racing-Reference. USA Today Sports Media Group. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
External links
- Jim Roper driver statistics at Racing-Reference
- Story of NASCAR's first race Archived 2013-10-29 at the Wayback Machine
- Obituary