SAD NEWS: NASCAR Artist Sam Bass Dies at Age 57; PixelatedSPEED to Pay Tribute

One of the many well known creations from Sam Bass were his hand painted Gibson guitars, awarded as trophies as Nashville Super Speedway. Bass holds a guitar for the winner of the Pepsi 300 in April 2006. (Padraic Major/NASCAR)

By: Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining

CHARLOTTE, North Carolina (February 16, 2019) -- The NASCAR community has lost its first Officially Licensed Artist of NASCAR, Sam Bass, after a long battle with Type 1 Diabetes and associated kidney complications.

Sam Bass burst onto the NASCAR scene in 1988 with one of the most iconic paint schemes of the era, the number 12 Miller High Life Buick for 1988 Daytona 500 winner Bobby Allison. That set the stage for a career that spanned over 30 years.

Among his countless creations, Bass created the schemes for Jeff Gordon, including the “Rainbow Warrior” and “Dupont Flames” schemes, and was well known for stunning posters, program covers and paintings featuring the legends of the sport throughout the decades.

Bass’ wife, Denise, made the announcement on social media this morning.

“It is with a sad heart that our family shares the news of our loss with the NASCAR community. Sam Bass, a loving husband, father, and inspiration to us all, passed away earlier today. Thank you for your prayers during this very difficult time. God Bless.” - Denise Bass

PR: It is with a sad heart that our family shares the news of our loss with the NASCAR community. Sam Bass, a loving husband, father, and inspiration to us all, passed away earlier today. Thank you for your prayers during this very difficult time. God Bless - Denise Bass

— Sam Bass (@sambassartist) February 16, 2019

EDITOR’s NOTE: As a graphic designer, and someone that has dabbled in racecar paint scheme creation, I have tremendous amount of respect for what Sam Bass accomplished during his legendary career. Sam created some of the sport’s more striking imagery, and blazed the trail for others with his promotional prowess, creating an entire industry within in the sport.

As a tribute to Sam, and his accomplishments, I am announcing the creation of a Sam Bass Tribute Area to the PixelatedSPEED website. I plan on gathering as much as I can in an effort to share and continue the legacy of this talented artist.

Thank you Sam, GoodSpeed.

PixelatedSPEED is a motorsports news and views website covering all things racing and has been “Bringing Pixels 2 Pavement Since 2018”. If you've made it this far into the post, thank you. Please consider sharing this content on the interwebs and following PixelatedSPEED on Facebook and Twitter and joining in on the conversation. http://facebook.com/PixelatedSPEED & http://twitter.com/PixelatedSPEED 

PixelatedSPEED is a part of the Gravel Network. Copyright - 2018, 2019

NASCAR Pioneer Glen Wood Passes Away

NASCAR Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Taken on January 20, 2012 in Charlotte, North Carolina. (John Harrelson/ Getty Images)

STUART, Virgina (January 18, 2019) -- The NASCAR community has lost another icon of the sport, as Wood Brothers Racing co-founder Glen Wood has passed away.

Wood had been placed in hospice on January 10th.

Reports of his passing began surfacing on January 12th, however those reports were premature. Wood was able to spend his remaining days at home among family before ultimately passing on January 18th.

Wood Brothers Racing Statement:

“It’s with profound sadness that we mourn the passing of team founder and family patriarch Glen Wood this morning. We want to thank family, friends, our small-town Virginia community of Patrick County, as well as everyone in the NASCAR community for their unwavering support of him, his life, his legacy and everything “Pa” represented. We’ve had some very challenging days but the uplifting words you all have sent truly meant a lot and we thank every one of you for thinking of our family during this difficult time. Funeral arrangements are still pending but it will be a small family service.”

As the co-founder of a team that has seen victory lane at the Daytona 500 five times, Wood had been to every single running of the “Great American Race” up until the 2018 running, wherein Wood opted to stay home amid concerns of a flu virus that was sweeping the country at the time.

Glen Wood was one of NASCAR’s true pioneers of the sport. A former driver from Stuart, Virginia, Wood and brother Leonard founded Wood Brothers Racing in 1950. Wood raced in NASCAR for eleven years from 1953 to 1964, claiming one win in a 50 miler in Winston-Salem in 1963.

Wood shared his memory of the beginnings of the Wood Brothers Racing team on the team’s website. He tells the story of his first race, at Morris Speedway in 1950.

“In 1950, at Morris Speedway, near Martinsville, VA, I was running along pretty good about the middle of the heat race, when they had a wreck in front of me. I was trying to go through a little narrow opening and hooked my left rear wheel on the bumper of one of the other cars. It bent the rear end housing, forcing us to quit. We were towing it behind another car, and got up the road about 10 miles. The wheel was wobbling from being bent and finally broke the axle. That, in turn, let the brake drum down on the pavement. As the wheel came out, it jerked the gas neck out of the tank and the gas spilled down and caught fire. Then, it caught the car afire, and it burned right there in the middle of the road. Finally, we got the car unhooked from it, but we didn’t have fire extinguishers. We had some extra gas cans and extra tires and tools that we were carrying in the racecar. And once in a while, a gas can would blow up in there. We were scared to get close to it because of that. So we let it burn until it burned up about everything. That was the first race I’d ever got to start. So we figured it all might be over.”

Glen Wood is survived by a large family including friends and colleagues throughout the motorsports world.

As part of the the iconic Wood Brothers Racing team, Wood played a vital role in the development of the sport over a sixty plus year career.

Legendary names including Pearson, Waltrip, Bonnet, and Elliot all played a role in the success of the team under Wood’s view.

PixelatedSPEED would like extend sincere condolences to the entire Wood family during this time.

PixelatedSPEED is a motorsports news and views website covering all things racing and has been “Bringing Pixels 2 Pavement Since 2018”. If you've made it this far into the post, thank you. Please consider sharing this content on the interwebs and following PixelatedSPEED on Facebook and Twitter and joining in on the conversation. http://facebook.com/PixelatedSPEED & http://twitter.com/PixelatedSPEED 

PixelatedSPEED is a part of the Gravel Network. Copyright - 2018, 2019

Joe Gibbs Oldest Son, J.D. Gibbs Passes Away

Joe Gibbs Racing made the announcement of J.D. Gibbs passing late in the evening of January 11, 2019. (Jeff Siner/Charlotte Observer)

UPDATE: I'd like to pass along a link given by Joe Gibbs. The JD Gibbs Legacy website is a tribute dedicated to sharing the memory of this very impressive soul. >> https://jdgibbslegacy.com/ (2-17-18)

By: Daniel Vining, Twitter: @danielvining

HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (January 11, 2019) -- Joe Gibbs Racing issued a statement late Friday evening announcing the passing of team Co-Founder, and Co-Chairman, J.D. Gibbs.

Since 2015, Gibbs had been battling a degenerative neurological disease that effect his brain function.

Joe Gibbs Racing Statement:

"It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Joe Gibbs Racing Co-Founder and Co-Chairman, J.D. Gibbs, who passed away earlier tonight at the age of 49 from complications following a long battle with a degenerative neurological disease.

Joe Gibbs Racing appreciates everyone's respect for the privacy of the Gibbs family during this difficult time.

Additional information regarding details fro a memorial service will be forthcoming at a future date."

After attending The College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, playing as a quarterback, Gibbs began work with a new NASCAR team alongside his father, Washington Redskins Head Coach Joe Gibbs.

It only took a year for Joe Gibbs Racing to find victory lane, with Dale Jarrett in the 1993 Daytona 500. Gibbs was a tire changer on that winning team.

In the mid-1990’s, Gibbs climbed behind the wheel himself, racing first in the NASCAR Busch East Series before moving on to the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and later the Busch Series. In 1998, Gibbs hung up his racing helmet to assume the role of JGR President and remained within the executive structure of the team until becoming less active in 2015 due to his medical issues.

Gibbs leaves wife Melissa, and sons: Jackson, Miller, Jason and Taylor, along with brother Coy to continue his memory among the rest of the large Gibbs family.

J.D. Gibbs was 49 years old.

PixelatedSPEED is a motorsports news and views website covering all things racing and has been “Bringing Pixels 2 Pavement Since 2018”. If you've made it this far into the post, thank you. Please consider sharing this content on the interwebs and following PixelatedSPEED on Facebook and Twitter and joining in on the conversation. http://facebook.com/PixelatedSPEED & http://twitter.com/PixelatedSPEED 

PixelatedSPEED is a part of the Gravel Network. Copyright - 2018, 2019

Sad News: Tom Higgins Passes Away at 80

Tom Higgins (Tom Higgins Facebook)

Tom Higgins, NASCAR's first beat reporter, died today at age 80 after complications stemming from a set of strokes over the past 11 months. Higgins was most notable as a motorsports and outdoors reporter for the Charlotte Observer in Charlotte, NC.

Higgins was a recepant of the NASCAR Hall of Fame Squier-Hall Award for NASCAR Media Excellence in 2015.

The Hall of Fame writer began his professional newspaper career in 1957 at the weekly Canton Enterprise in North Carolina. He began covering auto racing in a later move to the Ashville Times (North Carolina) before landing a sports writer position a the Charlotte Observer in 1964.

He was notable as the first writer to cover every race on the NASCAR schedule during a time when media coverage of the sport was spotty at best. On one occasion, he had 12 bylines in a single issue of the paper and consistently penned four or more stories per issue.

Affectionately known as "Pappy", Higgins time with the Observer spanned 33 years from 1964 to 1997. Known as an eloquent story teller, Higgins played witness to the birth and meteoric rise of NASCAR and stock car racing as a whole with an unwavering passion and brilliant presentation of the sport.

Long time friend and colleague Steve Waid broke the news of Higgins' passing on Facebook.

"Tom Higgins passed away on the morning of July 31 due to complications from a second stroke. He was 10 days away from his 81st birthday. The NASCAR world has lost perhaps its most capable, most honored, most popular journalist and certainly its Master Storyteller.

And I have lost my best friend.

Speaking on behalf of his family sincere gratitude is offered for all of your prayers, thoughts and kind words of sympathy. Tom was blessed to have so many friends.

I will pass along information on funeral/memorial services as soon as it is available.

Farewell, Pappy."

Editor's Note: While I never had the pleasure of meeting or personally knowing Tom, I like so many others read his stories and listened to his perspective on panels and racing magazine shows. He was a true pioneer in motorsports journalism and blazed the trail to which today's great NASCAR beat reporters now travel on today.

Goodspeed Mr. Higgins. Thank you for everything you brought to this world, and thank you for the legacy that you leave behind.