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Passwater was born in Indianapolis, Indiana, and he attended Danville Community High School. He served in the United States Navy between 1942 and 1945 during World War II. Passwater started racing after the war, and was active in the 1950s and 1960s. On June 29, 1952, Passwater started his first NASCAR Grand National event driving Frank Arford’s #77 Oldsmobile, in the Motor City 250, on the one-mile dirt Michigan State Fairgrounds race track. He would qualify 31st, but drive through the field to record a sixth place finish, seven laps behind winner Tim Flock. Passwater wheeled Arford’s #52 DeSoto at Playland Park Speedway, the half-mile dirt track at South Bend, Indiana for the 200-lap NASCAR Cup event in July finishing 5th; again behind winner Tim Flock. Passwater recorded just six starts for the season, charting one top five, and three top ten finishes. Passwater and Arford teamed up again for the 1953 NASCAR season, where he made 14 starts. Passwater finished sixth on the Daytona Beach 4.1-mile course in February. A fourth place finish followed, at the half-mile dirt Harnett Speedway at Spring Lake, NC in March, and a ninth place finish in the Wilkes County 200 at North Wilkesboro, NC. Passwater’s moment in the sun came at the three-quarter mile dirt Charlotte

Speedway in Charlotte, NC. It was the season's fifth event. Tim Flock won the pole, and he and Dick Rathman waged a real battle for the lead, as the two traded the lead eleven times in a span of 50 laps; before Rathman finally fell out with 20 laps to go. Herb Thomas assumed the lead, and four laps later, he too was out with mechanical failure. 28 cars started the race and as the race played out, the usual front runners either fell out, or had to pit for gas with around 25 laps to go. Curtis Turner, Fonty Flock, Buck Baker, Lee Petty, Rathman, and Thomas were some of those that fell out. Pop McGinnis then took the lead just 15 laps from the end, and led for 13 laps, but with three laps to go, he too had mechanical problems, as he broke a left front wheel. Passwater would lead a mere three laps of the 150-lap event, but they were the laps that counted. Passwater won the event, collecting $1,000. He had a fourth place finish in the Richmond 200, then a fifth at Central City Speedway in Macon, GA. As the season

started, he had had a worst finish of ninth place in six starts. He fell out when he ran at Langhorne and finished 19th. He resumed his good runs in his next race, when he had a fourth place finish in the 200-lap event at Hickory Speedway, and a sixth at Martinsville. He was 13th at Columbus, and added a fifth place run in the Raleigh 300. After a 17th at the Louisiana Fairgrounds in Shreveport LA, he finished fifth at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola FL. So, the 1953 season rounded out, Passmore had made 13 starts, had one win, six top five and 10 top ten finishes,

and set well in the points chase. The death of his car owner in a crash while attempting to qualify for the International 200 at Langhorne, left Passmore without a car. Arford crashed at Langhorne in time trials. His car spun, rolled over six times, and crashed through the outside barrier. Arford was torn out of his safety belts, and tossed around inside the car; he never regained consciousness. Passwater's next, and final, Cup start would be race #30 of the 1953 season. He would start 22nd, and complete 350 laps finishing ninth. Buck Baker won the race. Passwater fielded his own car for the Southern 500, before fading from NASCAR competition. On June 3, 1956 Passwater competed with the ARCA Series at Dayton Speedway in Dayton, Ohio for a 300-lap event on the half-mile track. Passwater finished 16th. Passwater

then went absent from the world of stock car racing, until re-emerging on October 20, 1963, driving the #24 Ford in the Centennial 400, a 400-lap ARCA race at International Raceway Park at Ona, West Virginia, where he finished 16th. Passwater raced a Studebaker GT Hawk in USAC competition in 1964 and 1965 that he had purchased from Andy Granatelli. The car had been previously raced at the Bonneville Salt Flats utilizing Studebaker’s R3 304.5 cubic inch V-8 supercharged engine. Passwater finished a disappointing 31st in the Yankee 300 on the 2.5-mile road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park, in the #33 Studebaker after losing the brakes halfway through the event. He took the Studebaker to ARCA competition for the 250-mile event on the one-mile dirt oval at Michigan State Fairgrounds at Detroit, finishing ninth on September 6, 1964. In an interview years later, Passwater was quoted as saying, “the car went like blazes down the straights, passing everything, but was a bear in the turns. This is where the opposition caught me.” Passwater returned to USAC Stock Car competition in 1965, still campaigning the Studebaker. He garnered a 10th place finish in the Yankee 300 on the 2.5-mile road course at Indianapolis Raceway Park. A broken suspension sidelined him on lap 18 of the 67 lap USAC event, on the three mile road course at Greenwood Roadway at Indianola, Iowa, in June scoring a 16th place finish. Disappointment followed in August at the Milwaukee Mile at West Allis, Wisconsin, where he placed 36th. The final USAC Stock Car event of his racing career, came on September 7, at The Indiana State Fairgrounds 1-mile dirt oval, for the USAC State Fair Century where Passwater finished 27th. Rumor has it that Passwater removed the Studebaker R2 engine prior to the 1965 season and replaced it with a Pontiac engine, painting the engine black and bolting the Studebaker valve covers over top of the Pontiac valve covers. Passwater and partner Del Amy, launched Elegant Motors in the 1970s manufacturing replicas of 1935 Auburn 856 and 898 Speedsters. The 1953 Oldsmobile 88 #77 that Passwater drove for car owner Frank Arford in NASCAR competition is on display at the R. E. Olds Transportation Museum in Lansing, Michigan (pictured above). After retiring from racing, Passwater worked in car repair shops and eventually opened his own auto body repair shop. He retired in 1996 and moved to Sarasota, Florida. Dick Passwater passed away on July 10, 2020, just before his 94th birthday

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

RICHARD "DICK" PASSWATER - 7/24/1926 - 7/10/2020