Gritz's Knoxville title car donated to Sprint Car Hall

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BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

The dark metallic blue No. 12 super-modified car that Lincoln’s Kenny Gritz piloted to a dramatic victory at the 1969 Knoxville Nationals has found a fitting final resting place.

That’s in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and Museum located at the famed half-mile track in Knoxville, Iowa.

Mike Dewey of Santa Paula, Calif. — who in 1996 purchased the car originally owned by Lincoln’s Larry Snyder — will donate it during an official ceremony there Saturday.

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In 1969, Lincoln driver Kenny Gritz (above) drove his No. 12 Snyder "Fiber Glass" Special to victory at the prestigious Knoxville Nationals. (Courtesy)

In 1969, Lincoln driver Kenny Gritz (above) drove his No. 12 Snyder "Fiber Glass" Special to victory at the prestigious Knoxville Nationals. (Courtesy)

When he took ownership of the “Snyder ‘Fiber Glass’ Special,” from Knoxville’s Craig Agan (who’s now the museum’s marketing director), Dewey said the only thing he knew about Gritz was that the 25-year-old was “a virtual unknown, nationally, and he wins the Indianapolis 500 of sprint car racing. And then the tragic accident that happened.”

Barely two weeks after winning the Nationals, Gritz’s quick rise in the sport came to a tragic end when he died in an accident during an IMCA race at the Nebraska State Fair.

Gritz had shown up for that race with a roll cage bolted to his car, but officials wouldn’t allow him to race with it. A lawsuit filed by his widow over the incident became the main impetus for most sprint car associations requiring roll cages in 1970.

Gritz had taken up racing only four years before winning the Nationals, and his sister, Janice Sanford of Lincoln, said earlier this week that he had set his sights on racing Indy cars.

His legacy, though, was sealed by the Knoxville crown, which is why Sanford is so touched about Dewey’s gift.

“He called awhile back and said, ‘You know, when I took that car from Knoxville I knew in my heart then that it was going back, because I knew that’s where it belonged,’” said Sanford, who will meet Dewey for the first time this weekend. “He’s just a generous, generous man.”

Gritz led only four laps of the ’69 Nationals feature, but the fact that he was even in the car after qualifying it for the A main was nearly as astonishing.

On the morning of the race, Gritz was welding a gas tank to a car he owned that was being driven by his brother-in-law. Apparently, the tank hadn’t been washed out good enough and it exploded, leaving Gritz with metal fragments embedded in his face.

Since there was nothing doctors could do immediately, speculation began that Snyder would need a replacement driver. But fellow Lincoln racer Lloyd Beckman offered Gritz the comfort of his air-conditioned hotel room, and after resting as much as he could in the afternoon, he had his historic night.

After Gritz’s death, Roger Rager and Ralph Blackett raced Snyder’s  No. 12 for a time before it was retired. Dewey came upon it through Agan, who had displayed it at the 1994 Nationals, and after buying it, he restored it to racing condition.

“We wanted to run it in at least one vintage race, so we selected an event at Las Vegas on pavement, because we didn’t want to ding the car up,” Dewey said.

Since then, he stored it in his airplane hanger at Santa Paula, along with a USAC championship dirt car and Curtis Craft midget.

But Dewey never planned on having the super modified collect too much dust.

“I always knew I was just the temporary caretaker,” he said when asked what moved him to donate it. “I figured I would have it for about 10 years, and it’s been 12 now.”

Seems like the right year to give No. 12 its final home.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.