R.i.p. Pat patrick

[smith19]

Thanks for all the memories!!!

[chupp n bloomer fan]

Never got to see him if I remember correctly, but I know he was in the P1 car, definitely one of the top guys.

Not sure on details or anything about him really. Just hope he had a great life, and didn't suffer.

RIP Pat Patrick

[JabberJaws83]

Oh man, watched drive the 44 when I was growing up. Always one of my favorites, saw him a couple years ago at a benefit for Greg Staab. RIP

[zooker25]

Wow that name brings back some memories. Remember him having some great runs at Eldora!

[buster83]

what a great wheel man from 50`s and up always running up front and many exciting battles and finishes with many great wheel men of that era.

[Krooser]

Same Pat Patrick that owned the Indy car teams?

[lazyifoto]

Same Pat Patrick that owned the Indy car teams?

No ..he was a dirt late model driver . Florence speedway (aka northern ky speedway) was his local track along with Queen City speedway Lawrenceburg Speedway and Eldora..He worked for the city of cincinnati and should always be remembered as a great racer....I have no idea how many feature wins he had but i am sure it was hundreds....

[Bob Hubbard]

No ..he was a dirt late model driver . Florence speedway (aka northern ky speedway) was his local track along with Queen City speedway Lawrenceburg Speedway and Eldora..He worked for the city of cincinnati and should always be remembered as a great racer....I have no idea how many feature wins he had but i am sure it was hundreds....

Yes Sir .... Thats how I remember him ..... RIP

[MontanaMagic1619*]

I'm really sad to see Pat has gone, one of my all time favorite drivers along with Jeff Purvis, I have countless memories of Pat dating way back to '71 when I went to my first World 100. From 71 to 87 Pat was a consistent front runner who came so close to winning the big one. In '72 he finished second to someone whose name escapes me at this time, but in '83 he and Jeff put on a hell of a show with Purvis passing Pat with about fifteen to go to win the World after Pat had led the first 80 plus laps. One of my few all time favorite races because it was two drivers whom I really looked up to.

It's so ironic that that same year in 83, Pat ran second at Pennsboro to Freddy Smith in another hell of a race, he always came so close to winning the big one alot like Harry Gant was back in those days, matter of fact, I used to compare him to Harry because he would always come so close to winning, but being the competitor he was he would just say " yeah friend; first loser, huh " !

A gentleman to the end, a true Hall of Famer, and in my book just as good as Larry Moore, Buck Simmons, Freddy Smith, Jack Boggs, Moyer, and even Bloomquist ! Rest in eternal peace, my friend !

[TS FAN]

I starting watching Pat in the 60's. He was a magican at the helm. As good as anyone I ever saw. Quite a character to boot. Prayers for his family.

[smith19]

he had a ton of wins driving for himself,, larry Morrison, morgan chandler, mike shepherd-will wagner, joe stricker's (streak) and marion martin....there are a few I left out. he had over 400 wins if I remember correctly....pat loved to talk racing and drink a cold beer.....pat used to do our cranks through the back door when he worked for don's crankshaft many moon's ago...

[Clayton_Wetter]

To me, he is the best of all of the Florence drivers ever. Very sad to see this great legend go, he was/is one of my favorites. An honor to have seen many of his races.

[zyoung25]

There should definitely be a Pat Patrick memorial race.

I never got to see or meet him. As a little kid, my dad worked for the Stricker team, which is where I got my start into racing. I heard many stories of Pat and how good he was, his numbers don't lie about how good he was.

R.I.P Pat

[over4T]

I knew Pat, primarily, from Eldora in the late '60s when the Late Model guys were some of the best in the country. Latham, Dunleavy, Freeman are all gone and now Patrick joins them. Thanks for the memories guys.

[smith19]

zack did you dad know elwood and Charlie???

[MontanaMagic1619*]

Just to reiterate what I said above and after digging through some of my old archives I'll give you all a little capsule of Pat's career in what I always figured was the crown jewel races of the 1970's and 1980's which was the World 100 at Eldora, the DTWC at Pennsboro, and finally the North-South 100. I usually tried to work stateside as an engineer so I could hit both Eldora and Pennsboro, but I missed all of the North-South races except in '83 and '84 when Pat won both races and led every lap of these two races.

(14) World 100 races with finishes from 1971-87

9 -- 2 -- 17 -- 11 -- 22 -- 4 -- 13 -- 11 -- 8 -- 18 -- 2 -- 5 -- 12 -- 23 = 11.21 avg finish

( 5 ) DTWC races @ Pennsboro from 1981-1985 :

8 -- 10 -- 2 -- 29 -- 13 = 12.40 avg finish

and finally the ( 7 ) North-South 100 races from 1983 - 1991 : ( which was by far his best track ) :

1 -- 1 -- 2 -- 14 -- 11 -- 13 -- 4 = 6.57 avg finish

And I whole heartedly agree with you zyoung, there should be a memorial race named after Pat. If they can hold memorial races for other drivers who are gone, the least some of these sanctioning bodies and promotors could do is to find a race to honor Pat for what he did for our favorite sport of dirt late model racing

[zyoung25]

zack did you dad know elwood and Charlie???

Sure did. They were still coming around a couple years ago, haven't seen them for awhile now.

[smith19]

I was there right after pat when bob carnes drove the streak....pat and carnes mom were neighbors.

[buster83]

them were very brave men driving in that era some the cars they drove i often wondered how they survived that long but they all managed and it just shows there toughness no power steering and the braking was all manual and not 4 wheels and slide jobs were wide as the cars became a little more updated there driving skills really shined even more.

[BIGSTEVE00]

So does anybody know how old Pat was when he passed away? I never got to see him race but I feel like I did with all the stories my dad and uncle have told me. Thoughts and prayers go out to his family and friends. RIP Pat Patrick!!