June 2, 1920 - November 12, 1966
Donald Branson
(Photo;thedeadones.wordpress.com)
Born in Rantoul, Illinois, USA.
At the time of his death, "Pappy," as he was known, was the oldest driver in United States Auto Club championship circuit competition and one of the most consistent and popular. Branson drove in the USAC Championship Car series and also in sprint cars, racing champ cars in the 1956–1966 seasons with 128 starts, including the 1959 to 1966 Indianapolis 500 races. He finished in the top ten 85 times, with 7 victories. Branson was also the 1959 and 1964 USAC Sprint Car Series Champion.
At the age of 39, Branson qualified for his first Indianapolis 500 and also edged out A.J. Foyt for the 1959 USAC sprint car title in a preview of things to come. He would go on to win six big car races, 28 sprint features and 15 midget main events against his younger competition and against the odds. Branson was diabetic but kept that a secret because had it known his condition, USAC would not have granted him a license. To win 100-mile dirt races in searing heat and humidity with no power steering while fighting such a handicap was truly remarkable.
Branson and another driver, Dick Atkins, were tragically killed in a fiery accident on November 12, 1966 in a USAC sprint car race at Ascot Park in Gardena, California. 1966 was to be his last year of competition, and the fatal wreck occurred with only a few races left in the season for the USAC series.
At the time of his death, Branson was a member of the USAC Board of Directors and almost invariably was assigned to take rookie drivers on their first orientation ride at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. A few months before his death, he was named championship racing representative for Goodyear.
He was inducted in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 1994 and the National Midget Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2012.
I was at Ascot on that terrible evening. Actually I was setting in turn one as that is where the accident happened, an Offy alcohol powered and a Chevy V-8 gasoline powered cars in flames. Atkins was an up and comer whose career was terminated, so sad. Such a tragedy and I did not attend another sprint car race for almost ten years. Don Branson raced with my uncle, Marvin Pifer throughout the mid-west and elsewhere. What a fabulous career.
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