If you are familiar with NASCAR, the American stock car racing organization that has maintained a stranglehold on the “race sunday, buy monday” genre of motorsports, then you’ll probably know about the accompanying Xfinity series. In basic terms, it is a minor league system similar to baseball’s where a team will sign young talent to a contract and delegate them to drive a car in said series. It is a spectator sport in of itself, with races being broadcast to and taking up the lower tier spots in a network’s schedule.
It thus may surprise some that a minor league is not a new concept. From the late 80s to the mid 90s, NASCAR ran the Sportsman series, using almost exactly the same philosophy as the later Xfinity series except it got much less attention. Even further back in time, we have the mouthful that was the NASCAR Grand National East series; again, same concept but with a rather unique twist; races would exclusively be held on the east coast, a region where NASCAR had not fully broken into yet, and still really hasn’t to this day. There are only two tracks worth mentioning that have any real stake in NASCAR’s history, New Hampshire Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen (the latter track is especially important here).
NASCAR only started full-time racing in those two locations in 1990 and 1986 respectively, despite the fact that Watkins Glen had been around since 1956. To define the track, it is a winding and treacherous road course that was mainly built for open wheel racing, and in fact was the main track for the F1 American Grand Prix for a majority of the 50s, 60s, and 70s. All of this is to say that the east coast was rather uncharted territory for NASCAR. Which is what made the Grand National East series so unique, as it was less of a minor league and more of a test for NASCAR to dip their toes into the eastern market. And given the stereotypes of stock car racing, it may surprise you to hear that a following was starting to build.
Crowds of hundreds turned to thousands, and local radio stations started live coverage of races starting in 1972. By the end of the 1973 season, it had become such a success that the higher-ups at NASCAR were beginning to explore new possibilities to break further into the eastern audience; new tracks were proposed, and deals were starting to be made with local television stations to broadcast races to their respective regions. One such station, SWNY-TV, was the first to come to an agreement with NASCAR, and they were to broadcast the final race of the 1973 season with their sports broadcasting team, the Pinewood 300; a 300 mile, 89 lap race held at Watkins Glen International which had been the season finale ever since 1970. The station was to send two camera crews and their two sportscasters in James Reaves and Bill Dowrey, two young guns looking to break into the larger sports media, and given the momentum NASCAR was starting to gain, they jumped on the opportunity to cover the race.
The Glen's structure at the time of the race.
On race day, it was a quiet, chilly day following a couple spurts of sprinkling rain. As scheduled, the cameras and broadcasters were on site. One crew was positioned among the bleachers to get a wide view of the track just as a larger station would, while the other was positioned at turn 5, a long circular turn where drivers transition from the long straight backstretch into a winding section of track known as “The Boot”. Reaves and Dowrey are in the broadcast booth and as such, are given a wide view of the track.
As scheduled, the race starts at 2:36 PM and lap after lap goes by without a hitch. A crowd of nearly 8,000 watched as souped-up pony cars whirred around the track, with a majority of the laps being led by veteran Tiny Lund, usual journeyman Norm Donaldson, and a rookie named David Goodwin. There had been crashes and wrecks, just like any race held at The Glen, but none that ended up in anyone getting seriously hurt. The worst that happened was a driver named Johnny Garfield getting a concussion after rolling his car once or twice in lap 36, going at a relatively low 70 mph. At lap 82, however, something happened.
Goodwin, the rookie mentioned before, had lost control of his car going into turn 5, at around the same place the second camera crew was set up. He had been in second behind Lund, with both quite a sizable distance ahead of everyone else following a caution where they both had been the only ones to not pit, before turning too late and sending his car spinning side over side (eyewitnesses count anywhere from 10 to 25 revolutions) and crashing into the retaining wall and catch fence. His fuel tank had ruptured, and as his car came to a standstill with the driver’s door facing up, something sparked and ignited the leaking gasoline, sending the totaled car into an inferno.
Incredibly, Goodwin was able to clamber out of the car and get away from the wreck. Unfortunately, the only way to run was into the race track, and as Goodwin had taken a couple of steps into the road, the car of Norm Donaldson struck him as it was starting to turn. Keep in mind, the camera had been on Goodwin this whole time, as they had gotten away from the fire, and according to eyewitnesses who saw the broadcast live, the camera feed was focused on Goodwin running away from the wreck as Donaldson’s car struck him. Descriptions vary, but most seem to agree that the scene was gruesome; some swore they saw eyeballs fly out of Goodwin’s head, others believe they saw his helmet get knocked off with such force that it partially tore off his scalp, recalling a spray of blood as the helmet left.
Following the fatal impact, Donaldson turned with such force that his own car flipped over, surely a late reaction to seeing the fleeing Goodwin. The other drivers, who had been following close behind, lost control as well. As 10 or so cars piled up at the bottom of the turn, one car belonging to Anthony Hill had its bottom internals exposed, and as Carlton Wallace unwittingly rammed into it, the entire pile descended into hell. The entire portion of the track that the drivers were piled up at had been engulfed in fire, and it took one of the on site fire trucks along with an emergency response team courtesy of the local fire department in order to get everything extinguished. The final death toll included Goodwin, Hill, Wallace, and 8 other drivers caught in the fire. Donaldson barely survived with severe burns. He resides in his hometown of Greensboro, North Carolina and refuses to speak of the incident.
Needless to say, officials at the track called the race off. The leader at the time of the wreck, Tiny Lund, was declared the winner of the race and the season cup, but it was small news compared to what had happened. NASCAR had soured in the mouths of those who had witnessed the race, seen it on the broadcast, or just heard about it through word of mouth. In order to prevent circulation of the disaster, NASCAR covertly bought out SWNY-TV, immediately seized the recording of the race, and dissolved the company, unceremoniously ending the careers of the camera crews, James Reaves, and Bill Dowrey. It is presumed to still reside in NASCAR’s vault to this day, and is considered to be lost media.
In around 2019 in nearby Catuya, someone discovered a recorded transcript of the race broadcast containing the announcer’s reactions to Goodwin’s death and all hell breaking loose. The following is the said transcript, along with rough estimates of what is happening on the track in order to fill in the blanks.
-camera adjusted at turns 1 and 2-
REAVES: “Donaldson’s making a bit of a push coming through the 90 degree turn.”
DOWREY: “He’s got a lot of room to make up for, that Goodwi-”
-camera slides over to catch Goodwin in the middle of his crash-
REAVES: “And there’s been a crash! Goodwin, the rookie in the number 57 car, flips into the loop turn..”
DOWREY: “Ough, that’s a nasty impact…and there’s a fire! His Camaro is engulfed in flames!”
REAVES: “He’s running out from the wreck, by the looks of things he’s fine, thank-”
-Goodwin is then presumably hit by Donaldson’s car-
REAVES: “Oh my goodness.”
REAVES: “B-Bill-”
-Dowrey leaves to presumably collect himself after what he had witnessed-
REAVES: “Well, uh…folks. My partner has left the booth and the camera crew we stationed trackside appears to have fled the scene. There is a large pileup following the, eh…accident involving the young Mr. Goodwin. Lund has slowed by the esses, there’s a car and-”
-Hill’s car is hit by Wallace’s, and the pile up is engulfed in flames-
REAVES: “Oh, my God!”
-audible chair scraping followed by footsteps-
-only the crowd’s screams and gasps are picked up by the microphone-
-footsteps reenter-
TRACK OFFICIAL (presumably): “I am sorry folks, but this race has ended. You may tune out now.”