Tragedy does not play favorites.
He was a rising star, a young racer with unlimited potential and a great accomplishment on his side of the ledger. Kenny Gritz had won the 1969 Knoxville Nationals in upset fashion, overcoming serious facial burns and long odds to defeat a heavyweight class of racers that included Jan Opperman, Kenny Weld, and Joe Saldana.
Young Gritz had no way of knowing, but he had an appointment with destiny, a rendezvous that permanently altered the direction of open wheel racing in America.
Hailing from Nebraska, Gritz was drawn to racing just like countless other people. You know how it goes…he started helping out on a car, after a while they allowed him to warm it up, and then they let him race it a time or two. Boom…the hook was set.
Kenny Gritz in 1969. (Gritz family photo from NSCHoF)
By the summer of ’69 Gritz was experiencing a breakout season, winning his first feature at Knoxville in June. As the summer rolled on everybody turned their eyes toward August, and the Super Modified National Championship--today known as the Knoxville Nationals.
Gritz ran fifth on his qualifying night and was all set for Saturday night. But late Friday night Gritz and his crew discovered a fuel leak in a team car driven by Jerry Sanford. The following morning they took the tank to a local shop and flushed it with water. However, some fumes must have lingered because as Gritz welded the leak the tank exploded in his face.
Gritz was hurried to a local hospital with serious facial burns and metal shards in his skin. After aid was administered he insisted that he could race that night and checked himself out of the hospital.
He was right about that; oh, could he race.
Opperman led early, but the effects of a bad head cold began to give him fits. Gritz passed Bob Williams on the high side on lap 18 for second, and then set his sights on Opperman. Gritz then fended off a furious challenge from Saldana before Little Joe brushed the wall and fell back.
Kenny Gritz leading the 1969 Knoxville Nationals. (NSCHoF photo)
Gritz was fighting his own demons. The burns and the residual from that morning’s shop accident caused his eyes to water badly, clouding his vision. But he soldiered on, chasing Opperman.
With just three laps to go Opperman slid wide coming out of the east turn, giving Gritz a golden opportunity. Gritz hammered his Edmonds sprinter and drove by, and three laps later the stunned Knoxville crowd welcomed the promising newcomer to the elite fraternity of Nationals winners.
It was the greatest day of Kenny Gritz’s career. Elated and filled with joy, he quickly forgot the facial burns and watering eyes. In an instant he had leapt onto the national stage, his name in the headline of the next issue of National Speed Sport News: “Gritz Wins at Knoxville.”
Knoxville Nationals winner Kenny Gritz (center) is joined by (L-R) Roger Abbott (consy), Jan Opperman (runner-up), Bob Williams (third), and Thad Dosher (B-main) on Aug. 16, 1969. (NSCHoF photo)
Two weeks later Gritz’s name was in the headlines once more. This time, though, there was no joy or celebration.
It was Labor Day weekend, and IMCA sprints were booked at the Nebraska State Fair half-mile in Lincoln. Gritz and his guys made the short tow across town and unloaded.
But there was a wrinkle: open wheel racing was in the midst of a convulsive debate in 1969. The advent of the roll cage had appeared, bringing a sharp divide to the sport. Some groups embraced the cage; others did not. IMCA was among the latter, and their rules mandated nothing more than a rollover bar mounted behind the cockpit. Gritz and his guys duly unbolted their cage, set it aside, and installed the rollover bar.
Kenny Gritz met his destiny on the 13th lap of the 30-lap main. He was racing with Buzz Rose on a heavy, rough track, taking the outside line through one and two. Gritz hit a hole and the car bounced a couple of times and executed several flips before landing upside down on a concrete abutment and coming to rest on its wheels outside the railing.
A few minutes later Kenny Gritz was pronounced dead-on-arrival at Lincoln General Hospital. He was 25 years old.
As with every fatal accident, there were questions. What exactly had happened, and why? One fact was immediately evident: Had the roll cage still been installed on Gritz’s sprinter his odds for survival would have been dramatically greater.
At that moment, sprint car racing began to take a hard look at itself. Oh, it wasn’t simple, or immediate; even the most obvious improvements often take time. The discussion was helped along by a lawsuit filed against IMCA by Jeanne Gritz, Kenny’s young widow.
Think about that for a minute: It took a tragic, senseless death and a lawsuit to finally mandate roll cages on sprint cars.
Within months cages were, essentially, the law of the land. The change had come, and it was permanent.
It would be easy to think about this story and see only the historic implications. Yes, sprint car racing became better because of the sacrifice of Kenny Gritz. But I can’t stop thinking about the painful and lasting grief that Kenny’s family felt—and still feels. I also wonder what the future might have held for such a promising and talented young racer.
They say time heals all wounds; I’m not so sure. I suspect the family and friends of Kenny Gritz might tell us otherwise. Nothing—not even the passing of time—could completely take away their pain.
However, a happier footnote is about to be added to the life and career of Kenny Gritz. This Saturday afternoon—May 31—Kenny will be inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in Knoxville.
That means people have not forgotten Kenny. It means his memory—and his immeasurable contribution to our sport—will live on for many years into the future.
Kenny Gritz had an appointment with destiny. This Saturday, the final chapter of that destiny will be forever enshrined in history. May his story live on forever.
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