Tony Roper (racing driver)

Tony Roper
Roper in October 1997
Born	Anthony Dean Roper (1964-12-13)December 13, 1964 Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
Died	October 14, 2000(2000-10-14) (aged 35) Dallas, Texas, U.S.
Cause of death	Neck injury from racing accident in the O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
19 races run over 2 years
Best finish	41st (1999)
First race	1999 Diamond Hill Plywood 200 (Darlington)
Last race	2000 Touchstone Energy 300 (Talladega)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 3 0
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
60 races run over 5 years
Best finish	16th (1998)
First race	1995 Sears Auto Center 125 (Milwaukee)
Last race	2000 O'Reilly 400 (Texas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 8 0

Anthony Dean Roper (December 13, 1964 – October 14, 2000) was an American professional stock car racing driver. A competitor in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, he died after suffering injuries in a racing accident at Texas Motor Speedway.

Early career

Roper was born in Springfield, Missouri, to Dean Roper and Shirley Medley. Growing up his family was heavily involved in auto racing, as his father was a noted competitor in ARCA and other stock car racing series. Roper started racing in 1986. For the next six years he raced in IMCA Modifieds and late models on Midwest dirt and asphalt tracks. In 1992 he finished in second place for the American Speed Association Rookie of the Year Award. He started racing in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1995, and the Busch Series in 1999.

Death

At the Craftsman Truck Series O'Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on October 13, 2000, Roper was involved in an accident when he attempted to pass Steve Grissom and Rick Ware. Roper's Ford made contact with Grissom's front bumper causing it to take a sudden hard-right turn, which then caused the truck to impact the concrete wall of the tri-oval. An unconscious, unresponsive Roper was extricated from his truck, taken to the infield care center at TMS, and subsequently airlifted to Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital. Roper was determined to have a severe neck injury which prevented the flow of blood to his brain. He was put on a ventilator, and succumbed to the injury the day after the race, aged 35.

Roper was the third NASCAR driver to perish from racing related injuries in 2000, the first two being Adam Petty and Kenny Irwin Jr., respectively. It was the second fatality in the Craftsman Truck Series, the first being that of John Nemechek in 1997. Roper's was the first racing fatality recorded at Texas Motor Speedway.

A funeral service for Roper was held at the Fair Grove High School gymnasium, where he graduated from. More than 600 people attended.

Tony's father, Dean Roper, died in a crash just a year later (his death was caused by a heart attack, not the crash itself), on August 19, 2001. Both Tony and his father Dean died in racing accidents within 10 months of each other.

Legacy

The Tony Roper Scholarship Fund was founded after Roper's death. As of now, it is still running to this day.

Roper's death would be one of 5 deaths within the span of two years that would lead NASCAR to implement and mandate the HANS device in every single car and driver.

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	29	30	31	32	NBGNC	Pts	Ref
1999	Xpress Motorsports	61	Chevy	DAY	CAR	LVS	ATL	DAR 40																												41st	1284
			Pontiac						TEX 16	NSV 35	BRI 10	TAL 18	CAL 30	NHA 43	RCH 18	NZH 43	CLT DNQ	DOV 42	SBO 8	GLN 42	MLW 10	MYB 18	PPR 40	GTY 30	IRP DNQ	MCH DNQ	BRI DNQ	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM
2000	Washington-Erving Motorsports	50	Chevy	DAY DNQ	CAR 37	LVS DNQ	ATL DNQ	DAR DNQ	BRI DNQ	TEX DNQ	NSV 31	TAL 24	CAL DNQ	RCH DNQ	NHA DNQ	CLT	DOV	SBO	MYB	GLN	MLW	NZH	PPR	GTY	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	CLT	CAR	MEM	PHO	HOM	82nd	213

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	27	NCTC	Pts	Ref
1995	MB Motorsports	26	Ford	PHO	TUS	SGS	MMR	POR	EVG	I70	LVL	BRI	MLW 22	CNS	HPT	IRP	FLM	RCH DNQ	MAR 27	NWS	SON	MMR	PHO								60th	219
1997	Brevak Racing	31	Ford	WDW 32	TUS DNQ	HOM 12	PHO 36	POR 23	EVG 15	I70 9	NHA 19	TEX 20	BRI 17	NZH 33	MLW 17	LVL 20	CNS 13	HPT 25	IRP 33	FLM 9	NSV 17	GLN 24	RCH 27	MAR 21	SON 17	MMR 13	CAL 14	PHO 24	LVS 27		18th	2604
		34			TUS 29
1998		31		WDW 28	HOM 36	PHO 12	POR 10	EVG 6	I70 8	GLN 30	TEX 11																				16th	3016
	Gloy-Rahal Racing	55	Ford									BRI 15	MLW 18	NZH 12	CAL 18	PPR 10	IRP 2	NHA 36	FLM 14	NSV 21	HPT 24	LVL 6	RCH 13	MEM 17	GTY 15	MAR 18	SON 12	MMR 16	PHO 25	LVS 38
1999				HOM	PHO	EVG	MMR	MAR	MEM	PPR	I70	BRI	TEX	PIR	GLN	MLW	NSV	NZH	MCH	NHA	IRP	GTY	HPT	RCH	LVS	LVL 18	TEX	CAL			89th	109
2000	MB Motorsports	26	Ford	DAY	HOM	PHO	MMR	MAR	PIR	GTY	MEM	PPR	EVG	TEX	KEN	GLN	MLW	NHA	NZH	MCH	IRP 30	NSV 34	CIC	RCH 21	DOV DNQ	TEX 29	CAL				54th	356

External links

• Tony Roper driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Tony Roper's fatal crash on YouTube