John Nemechek Explained

John Nemechek
Birth Name:	John Frank Nemechek
Birth Date:	12 March 1970
Birth Place:	Lakeland, Florida, U.S.
Death Place:	Homestead, Florida, U.S.
Death Cause:	Racing accident
Total Busch Races:	1
Years In Busch:	1
Best Busch Pos:	92nd (1994)
First Busch Race:	1994 Kroger 200 (IRP)
Total Truck Races:	43
Years In Truck:	3
Best Truck Pos:	13th (1996)
First Truck Race:	1995 Skoal Bandit Copper World Classic (Phoenix)
Last Truck Race:	1997 Florida Dodge Dealers 400 (Homestead)
Truck Wins:	0
Truck Top Tens:	4
Truck Poles:	0

John Frank Nemechek (March 12, 1970 – March 21, 1997) was an American racing driver who competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

Life and racing career

The younger brother of four-time NASCAR Cup Series race winner Joe Nemechek, John followed his brother into racing, participating in his first race at the age of twelve in an 80 class dirtbike race. After a quick progression to the 250cc class, he moved onto mini-stock cars, where he raced against his brother, and eventually late-model stocks.

When he was not racing, Nemechek served as the front-tire changer on Joe's pit crew, and was on Joe's 1992 NASCAR Busch Series championship-winning team. He would begin attempting NASCAR races himself, and ran one Busch race at IRP in 1994.^[1] He finished 30th after his No. 89 Chevrolet suffered an engine failure. The following season, he began racing in the new Craftsman Truck Series, driving at first for Redding Motorsports,^[2] and then for his brother's NEMCO Motorsports. In the first year of competition, Nemechek ran 16 races and had two top-ten finishes. He followed that up with two more top-tens in 1996 and a thirteenth-place finish in points, running a single truck he built himself titled the War Wagon under his own team, Chek Racing.

Death

On March 16, 1997, Nemechek was running a Truck Series race at Homestead-Miami Speedway when with 14 laps to go, he lost control and struck the first-turn wall, driver's side first, and hit his head on the wall, suffering head injuries. He was extracted and transported to a hospital, where he died on March 21, 1997.

Legacy

Following the incident, Homestead was reconfigured into a true oval with a six-degree banking to reduce the possibility of the type of crash that killed Nemechek. His brother Joe won a Busch Series race that November at the reconfigured circuit; he later named his son John Hunter after his late brother.

In 1999, when Joe won his first Cup Race at New Hampshire, he paid tribute to John over the radio while he took the checkered flag:

“This is for my brother John. I love you.”^[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.)

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28		Pts	Ref
1994	NEMCO Motorsports	89	Chevy	DAY	CAR	RCH	ATL	MAR	DAR	HCY	BRI	ROU	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	MYB	GLN	MLW	SBO	TAL	HCY	IRP 30	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	MAR	CAR	92nd	73	^[5]
1996	NEMCO Motorsports	89	Chevy	DAY	CAR DNQ	RCH DNQ	ATL	NSV	DAR	BRI	HCY	NZH	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NHA	TAL	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	HOM			NA	0	^[6]

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26		Pts	Ref
1995	Redding Motorsports	89	Chevy	PHO 13	TUS	SGS																								16th	1674	^[7]
1995	NEMCO Motorsports	87	Chevy				MMR 26	POR 14	EVG 27	I70 23	LVL 22	BRI 29	MLW 17	CNS 15	HPT	IRP 8	FLM 20	RCH 19	MAR 9	NWS 22	SON	MMR 30	PHO 19							16th	1674	^[7]
1996	Chek Racing	8	Chevy	HOM 7	PHO 14	POR 12	EVG 20	TUS 17	CNS 12	HPT 21	BRI 20	NZH 20	MLW 29	LVL 10	I70 16	IRP 26	FLM 14	GLN 16	NSV 21	RCH 27	NHA 20	MAR 14	NWS 19	SON 16	MMR 19	PHO 17	LVS 27			13th	2615	^[8]
1997	Chek Racing	8	Chevy	WDW 36	TUS 20	HOM 21	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	NHA	TEX	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	CNS	HPT	IRP	FLM	NSV	GLN	RCH	MAR	SON	MMR	CAL	PHO	LVS	71st	258	^[9]

Notes and References

News: Third Sportsman 100 tonight at L.I.S.. Barker. John. August 5, 1994. The Ledger. 2D. 2014-04-02. Lakeland, FL.
News: Younger Nemechek to drive Super Truck Series. Barker. John. December 13, 1994. The Ledger. 3D. 2014-04-02. Lakeland, FL.
Web site: Joe Nemechek gets first NASCAR win. Staff Writer. The Ledger.
Web site: ESPN.com - Auto Racing - Nemechek breaks through for emotional first win. www.espn.com.
Web site: John Nemechek – 1994 NASCAR Busch Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 25, 2024.
Web site: John Nemechek – 1996 NASCAR Busch Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 25, 2024.
Web site: John Nemechek – 1995 NASCAR SuperTruck Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 25, 2024.
Web site: John Nemechek – 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 25, 2024.
Web site: John Nemechek – 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results. Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. January 25, 2024.