James Hylton Dead at 83, Auto Accident

[68X426]

Former NASCAR driver James Hylton, son killed in auto accident.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/motorsports/former-nascar-driver-james-hylton-son-killed-in-auto-accident/ar-AAwtpC2?ocid=spartanntp&ffid=gz

TALLADEGA, Ala. — James Hylton, the 1966 Cup rookie of the year, and his son were killed in an auto accident in Georgia, NASCAR confirmed Saturday afternoon.

Hylton was 83. His son James Harvey Hylton Jr. also was killed in the accident on I-85 in Franklin County, Georgia. No other details were available. Georgia State Patrol declined to provide details to NBC Sports about the incident, stating a report would be available Monday.

The Roanoke Times reported that Hylton and his son and crew chief Terry Strange were traveling back to South Carolina after Friday's ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway when the accident happened around 6 a.m. Saturday, according to Hylton's ex-wife Evelyn Hylton.

She told The Roanoke Times that a police officer came to her door Saturday morning and informed her what happened.
"[The officer] said Terry ... told them that he thought James was having a heart attack and he looked over at him and lost control of the truck and went across the median and then across the other lane of traffic and hit an embankment," Evelyn Hylton said in a phone interview with The Roanoke Times.

"The truck, towing a big trailer with a race car on it, thousands of pounds, you have to be really careful."

Hylton was born on his family's Virginia farm in 1934 and learned to drive on his father's Ford Model T. During his motorsports career, he worked as a mechanic for NASCAR Hall of Famer Rex White and as a crew chief for Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett before becoming a driver.

Hylton, an independent driver, won two Cup races in 602 career starts. He won at Richmond in 1970 and at Talladega in 1972. He last drove in a Cup race in 1993 at Darlington Raceway. Hylton finished second in points in 1966, '67 and '71.

He made his NASCAR Premier Series debut in the 1964 Old Dominion 400 at Old Dominion Speedway in Manassas, Virginia. Hylton finished 19th in a 20-car field. Jarrett won that race and was among four NASCAR Hall of Famers in that race (David Pearson was second, Richard Petty was eighth and Wendell Scott was 18th).

Hylton made his first start in ARCA in 1986 and climbed out of the car for the final time in that series in 2013 after running the entire schedule. He competed 175 ARCA races but never recorded a top-10 finish. Hylton was a car owner in ARCA. Brad Smith finished 31st in Friday's ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway.

[hemi68charger]

Just saw this..... Man oh man.... Life is good, but is also so fragile.... RIP James and James Jr.

[3--Daytona]

He was a really  good guy  that loved to race             

[odcics2]

http://www.dodgecharger.com/forum/index.php/topic,132383.msg1645599.html#msg1645599

He mostly ran Chargers and in 69 had a 500 & Daytona. 

[Aero426]

The team had a bad wreck a year ago.   It totalled out their rig.   James replaced it with a loaned shorty school bus

[tan top]

sad , shame ,

[moparstuart]

Crazy fantastic guy  , sad RIP   

[41husk]

RIP 

[wingcar]

Sad.......and with his passing goes another part of Wingcar history.........RIP

[Aero426]

September 2003,  James with Rich Bolzenius in Union MO.    Rich put together the aero car gatherings at Monster Mopar in St Louis and hosted a laid back affair on Friday at his home with just our cars, and usually a special guest.   This particular year it was Hylton.   ARCA was racing in Chicago and James had a car entered for another driver.     On Saturday, James did not show up at Monster Mopar.     No bne knew where he was.   Apparently the driver was late or did not show and someone needed to qualify the car.   Whatever was needed,  James took off and handled business at the track.    He was back at the show on Sunday.    

[Aero426]

At the show at Rich's house, the Museum of Transportation in St Louis brought out their running and driving Chrysler Turbine car.   (Can you imagine this showing up at your garage party?).

Hylton was enamored with the Turbine and spent a lot of time checking it out.   He said he had never seen one up close before. 

[moparstuart]

At the show at Rich's house, the Museum of Transportation in St Louis brought out their running and driving Chrysler Turbine car.   (Can you imagine this showing up at your garage party?).

Hylton was enamored with the Turbine and spent a lot of time checking it out.   He said he had never seen one up close before. 

my 69 Road Runner high School car in the back ground , those were always great weekends 

[sccachallenger]

I met Mr. Hylton at the Chimney Rock Hillclimb in The early '90s. He was there competing with his pontiac, think it said Rumple Furniture on the 1/4 panel.
The back of his drivers suit said "Hard Racing", I thought that was really cool!
I loved his tow rig for this event, a late '60s D200 or 300 4 door with a utility body, covered with a small truck cap.
I was there competing with my mostly street car, '72 Challenger..He approached me and commented that I was driving his favorite make.He said he had an S.E. Charger at home.
The sound of his stock car echoing off the mountain was the best of the event!
We later saw him at the Des Moines Grand Prix, where ARCA was part of the show, along with Trans Am.
They were packing up after Saturdays race and gave us their paddock parking pass, so we could get our Ramcharger in.
A very classy guy who clearly loved racing!
Wonder if any of the other drivers wished they'd raced as long as James Hylton.

[41husk]

I sure miss monster mopar