JAMES HARVEY HYLTON - 08/26/1934 - 04/28/2018
an American race car driver. He is a two-time winner in NASCAR and competes in the ARCA RE/MAX Series, finishing 16th in points in 2006. He made headlines while attempting to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 at age 72. He also attempted to qualify for the 2009 Daytona 500 at age 74. Hylton's career in auto racing began in the late fifties when he began working as a mechanic for the legendary Rex White. James, Rex and Louis Clements teamed to win 26 races and most importantly the 1960 NASCAR Cup championship. On July 8, 1964, Hylton made his first Cup start at the Old Dominion 400 at Old Dominion Speedway at Manassas, Virginia. James finished 19th and collected $100 for his efforts. Things improved dramatically in 1966, as Hylton finished second in the points chase; posted 20 top five finishes and won the coveted NASCAR Rookie of the Year award. Hylton again finished second in
points during the 1967 season and had 26 Top 5 finishes and 39 Top 10 finishes in 46 starts; while driving Dodges for owner Bud Hartje. James was a model of consistency during this two year period as he had 46 top five finishes in 87 races. Hylton's first career win came at Richmond in 1970. He would start third in his 1969 Ford and lead the final 160 laps to grab his first win by beating Richard Petty by over 1/2 lap. In the 1972 Talladega 500, Hylton won under interesting circumstances, when Goodyear supplied teams with a special tire for super speedways. However the tire shredded after a while, and
1966 Dodge
1969 Dodge - Daytona 500
because Hylton's team could not afford the new tires they ran with the old ones. Hylton and Ramo Stott, another under-funded driver who also could not afford the tires, used the old tires to out run the other cars, and Hylton beat Stott by less than a second. James moved to the ARCA circuit during the 1990s, and ran in 16 of 23 ARCA REMAX Series schedule in 2006. He finished 18th in the final points standings. Hylton final Cup start came in 1993 at Darlington. He would qualify 37th but have to retire after 62 laps with handling problems; relegating him to a 34th place finish. He has attempted to make Cup starts as late as 2009 at the age of 74. He did make an Xfinity Series start in 2011 at the age of 76. It would come at Darlington in the Royal Purple 200. He started 43rd and would drop out after only two laps. His career stats show
him running in 602 CUP events, and posting two wins. He also amassed 140 Top 5's, and 301 Top 10's. Hylton started in the Cup series full time in 1966. He finished second in the points that season; and also was second in points the following year. He had one other second place finish in the points - that coming in 1971. In fact; between 1966 and 1972 Hylton finished inside the top three in points every season but one. Between 1985 and 2013 Hylton made 175 ARCA starts. It appears that his final stock car start came at age 78 in the ARCA Series in a race at Kansas. He started 24th and finished 18th. Although not driving; Hylton remained very active in racing. He owned a car than ran full time in the ARCA Series through early
1972 Talladega 500 win
1972 Talladega 500 win
2018; often driven by Brad Smith. It was on Saturday April 28, 2018; while returning home from an ARCA race the day before held at Talladega that Hylton was killed in a car crash near Commerce GA. Terry Strange (crew chief for Hylton's car) was driving the car hauler when it crashed. Strange received severe injuries. Strange told police he changed lanes from the right lane to the left lane in an attempt to overtake a slower vehicle when an unknown vehicle tried to change lanes and almost struck the truck, according to the report. Strange went on the shoulder to try to avoid a collision but lost control. The vehicle "struck an orange construction barrel and began striking guardrail support posts on the west shoulder of the road," the report says. The guardrail support posts had been struck by another vehicle several days beforehand. The truck, after hitting the damaged guardrail, went into the median and
became airborne, flying over a small creek and hitting an embankment with the front of the truck, according to the report. The car stopped facing north up against the embankment. James Hylton, 83, was sitting in the front passenger seat of the truck and was not wearing a seat belt. His son James Hylton Jr., 61, was sitting in the backseat and was wearing a shoulder belt. Both were pronounced dead at the scene. Some info from Wikipedia
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