FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Dick's racing career began in California driving midgets after WWII. He spent a few years on the West Coast before going back home to Pennsylvania. Linder really made his reputation as a great driver while driving the Yellow V-2 Sportsman Coupe for the Palone Brothers of Rices Landing, PA. When the Pittsburgh Racing Association was formed in 1954, Linder joined since it was the best deal on the local scene. The PRA had the best purses, race tracks, and drivers at that time. In his second year with the PRA, Dick was its point champion, and he won it by a large point spread over the second-place driver. Another big name owner was Ed Lowther, for whom Dick drove the yellow and red sprint cars and midgets #2 and #77. Dick raced in USAC open wheel division as well NASCAR stock cars. Between 1949 and 1956 he entered 28 NASCAR events, winning three with eight Top 10 finishes. Dick's three wins came behind the wheel of his Oldsmobile. His first win came in

Dayton Speedway in Dayton, OH in August of 1950. The following week, he picked up his second victory at Hamburg Speedway in NY. He picked up his third and final career win three weeks after win #2 at Vernon Fairgrounds in NY. He also competed in the Champ Car series. Running in four events over a two year span. He posted a best finish of 14th on two occasions. Dick's final NASCAR race was the 1956 Beach Course event at Daytona. He raced there several times including an 18th place finish in 1951. Dick crashed heavily and later succumbed to injuries occurred during a Sprint Car event at Trenton Speedway in 1959. Don Branson spun in front of Linder. Linder tried to avoid Bransons' car and as he spun he made contact with the guard rail. Linder's car flipped over the fence landing on it's wheels. The on-site doctor stated that Linder had fractured his neck and was dead when pulled from his car.

Dick was 36 years old at the time of his death. Linder was driving the "Vargo Special" race car at the time of his accident. Another racer, Van Johnson, who was driving in the same race, said that, "it all happened so fast he didn't know just what had occurred. It really shook me up. We had been driving together for some time and he was a close friend". A few months later, on Sunday July 19, Johnson was running in a race at Williams Grove Speedway when he too crashed in a USAC race. He was driving the same race car that Linder had been killed in. Johnson become involved with another car, flipped over and died instantly of a broken neck. Witnesses said it appeared the throttle hung on Joe Barzda's race car and struck the wheels of Johnson's car and they became locked together. Both cars flipped; but Barzda only received minor injuries.

One witness said, "the accident was almost identical to the one that took Linders life". Two years later driver Hugh Randell was at Langhorne Speedway looking for a ride. He failed to find one; but during the race a driver needed relief and Randell climbed behind the wheel. This car was also the Vargo Special; the same one that Linder and Johnson had been killed in two years earlier. On his second lap Randell's front wheel appeared to hook a rut. The car vaulted into the air and flipped five or six times bouncing 20 feet in the air, and landed on it's tail before turning over on it's side. Randell was pinned beneath it. He was still alive when rescue workers reached him, but died for a

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RICHARD REFELD "DICK" LINDER - 04/06/1923 - 04/19/1959