John Blewett III

John Blewett III
Nationality	American
Born	(1973-10-25)October 25, 1973 Howell Township, New Jersey
Died	August 16, 2007(2007-08-16) (aged 33) Thompson, Connecticut
Related to	Jimmy Blewett (brother)
NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
Years active	1995–2007
Teams	Dick Barney (1995–1996, 1998) Mario Fiore (1999) Curt Chase (2000–2004) Sheba Racing (2004) John Blewett Inc. (1997-1998, 2005–2007)
Starts	164
Wins	10
Poles	4
Best finish	3rd in 2001 and 2003
Awards
1992	Rookie of the Year
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career
4 races run over 3 years
Best finish	74th (1998)
First race	1996 Stevens Beil/Genuine Parts 200 (Flemington)
Last race	1998 Virginia Is For Lovers 200 (Richmond)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

John Richard Blewett III (October 25, 1973 – August 16, 2007) was a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour driver.[1]

Career

Blewett started racing go karts at the age of 10. In 1996, at age 22, he won the coveted NASCAR's Northeast Regional Championship, falling only a few points shy of the National Title. During his career he recorded 97 wins between 1993 and 2007, including track championships at Flemington Speedway, Wall Township Speedway, New Egypt, as well as New Hampshire. In 2006, he was honored during the motorsports show in Atlantic City as the northeast's Winningest Pavement Driver, for that year, as tallied by Area Auto Racing News.

Death and memorial

On August 16, 2007, while competing in a Whelen Modified race at Thompson Speedway, Blewett lost his life in a crash where he spun and was hit in the driver's door by his brother Jimmy's car.[2] On August 18, 2007 Wall Township Speedway held a Special Memorial for John. Fans, family, and friends attended the Speedway to pay their final respects. On the final lap of the scheduled 40 lap modified event, 1990 NASCAR Whelen Modified Titlist Jamie Tomaino piloted the famed No. 76 for a solo lap in John's honor. Three months later, at the season ending Turkey Derby, the Speedway decided to reserve the No. 76 exclusively for use by the Blewett family, effectively retiring the number except that any Blewett family owned team or driver can use it, meaning any car owned by the Blewett family, or driven by brother Jimmy or his son John IV, who started racing in 2017.[3]

The North-South Shootout, a race meet now featuring "Tour-type" Modified (similar to NASCAR Modified Tour cars, but the races are unsanctioned), SK Modified (Jack Arute owns the trademark, a Stafford Motor Speedway formula), Late Model, Super Late Model, and four-cylinder races held at various North Carolina short tracks but it is home to Caraway Speedway in Sophia,Nc, was renamed the John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout starting with the 2007 edition.

Previous rides

• John Blewett, Inc. No. 5 – 1992–1993 (Wall Stadium)
• John Blewett Inc. No. 76 – 1993–1994 (Flemington Speedway)
• Lou Vasquez No. 9/No. 5 1994–1996 (New Egypt Speedway Paved)
• Dick Barney No. 14 – 1995–1996, 1998–1999 (Flemington Speedway)
• John Blewett, Inc. No. 05 – 1997 (Flemington Speedway)
• Mario Fiore No. 44 – 1999 (Nascar Whelen Modified Tour)
• Curt Chase No. 77 – 2000–2004 (Nascar Whelen Modified Tour)
• Timmy Shinn No. 66 – 2002–2004 (Wall Stadium)
• John Blewett, Inc No. 76 2005–2007 (Wall Stadium)
• Sheba Racing No. 8 2004 (Nascar Whelen Modified Tour)
• John Blewett Inc. No. 66 2005–2007 (Nascar Whelen Modified Tour)

Accomplishments

• Rookie of the Year (1992)
• Thanksgiving Classic (1993)
• Race of Champions (1995)
• NASCAR Northeast Regional (1996)
• Challenge of Champions (1996, 1997)
• North-South Shootout (2003, 2005)
  • After his death, the race was named in his memory, the John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout.
• Turkey Derby (2000, 2001, 2004, 2005)
  • Tour-Type Modified Division
• Garden State Classic (2003, 2004, 2006)

Track titles

• Flemington Speedway (1996, 1997)
• New Hampshire International Speedway (2000, 2002, 2003, 2006)
• New Egypt Speedway (1996)
• Wall Township Speedway (2006)

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Craftsman Truck Series

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	NCTC	Pts	Ref
1996	John Blewett Inc.	0	Ford	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	TUS	CNS	HPT	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	I70	IRP	FLM 22	GLN	NSV	RCH	NHA	MAR	NWS	SON	MMR	PHO	LVS				109th	97	[4]
1997		05	Chevy	WDW	TUS	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	NHA	TEX	BRI	NZH	MLW	LVL	CNS	HPT	IRP	FLM 30	NSV	GLN	RCH DNQ	MAR 33	SON	MMR	CAL	PHO	LVS		87th	137	[5]
1998				WDW	HOM	PHO	POR	EVG	I70	GLN	TEX	BRI	MLW	NZH	CAL	PPR	IRP	NHA	FLM DNQ	NSV	HPT	LVL									74th	85	[6]
	Greenfield Racing	09	Dodge																				RCH 26	MEM	GTY	MAR	SON	MMR	PHO	LVS

Whelen Modified Tour

NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour results
Year	Car owner	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	NWMTC	Pts	Ref
1995	Dick Barney	14	Chevy	TMP 23	NHA	STA	NZH 36	STA	LEE	TMP	RIV	BEE	NHA	JEN 8	RPS	HOL	RIV	NHA	STA	TMP	NHA	STA	TMP	TMP			42nd	291	[7]
1996				TMP	STA	NZH	STA	NHA	JEN	RIV	LEE	RPS	HOL	TMP	RIV	NHA	GLN	STA	NHA	NHA	STA	FLE 30	TMP				NA	-	[8]
1997	John Blewett Inc.	05	Chevy	TMP 22	MAR	STA	NZH	STA	NHA	FLE 18	JEN	RIV	GLN	NHA 9	RPS	HOL	TMP	RIV	NHA	GLN	STA	NHA	STA	FLE 16	TMP 24		45th	494	[9]
		77	Chevy																							RCH 27
1998	John Blewett Inc.	05	Chevy	RPS	TMP 13	MAR 32	STA 28		STA 3	GLN	JEN	RIV	NHA 5	NHA 11	LEE	HOL	TMP 8	NHA	RIV	STA	NHA	TMP 7					24th	1562	[10]
	Dick Barney	1	Chevy					NZH 7																	FLE 32
		76	Chevy																				STA 37	TMP 14
1999	Mario Fiore	44	Pontiac	TMP 33	RPS 26	STA 33	RCH 13	STA 17	RIV 1	JEN 5	NHA 37	NZH 28	HOL 9	TMP 7	NHA 37	RIV 3	GLN 22	STA 8	RPS 13	TMP 34	NHA 35	STA 36	MAR 6	TMP 13			16th	2227	[11]
2000	Curt Chase	77	Chevy	STA 28	RCH 6	STA 30	RIV 6	SEE 22	NHA 1	NZH 34	TMP 6	RIV 5	GLN 29	TMP 11	STA 1	WFD 8	NHA 3	STA 2	MAR 18	TMP 8							7th	2209	[12]
2001				SBO 13	TMP 5	STA 1	WFD 15	NZH 3	STA 6	RIV 11	SEE 5	RCH 13	NHA 7	HOL 9	RIV 5	CHE 3	TMP 2*	STA 7	WFD 7	TMP 11	STA 7	MAR 4	TMP 25				3rd	2891	[13]
2002				TMP 23	STA 23	WFD 25	NZH 34	RIV 3	SEE 10																		9th	2377	[14]
		78								RCH 18
		77	Pontiac								STA DNQ	BEE 3	NHA 4*	RIV 21	TMP 13	STA 11	WFD 3	TMP 4	NHA 3	STA 31	MAR 5	TMP 1*
2003				TMP 2	STA 7	WFD 7	NZH 2	STA 10	LER 2	BLL 1*	BEE 5	NHA 3	ADI 25	RIV 8	TMP 6	STA 4	WFD 7	TMP 29	NHA 1*	STA 6	TMP 27						3rd	2610	[15]
2004				TMP 13	STA 11	WFD 7	NZH 33	STA 27	RIV 2	LER 11	BLL 26	BEE 12	NHA 26	SEE 7	RIV DNQ	STA 15	TMP 27	WFD 14	TMP 38	NHA 20	STA 31	TMP					16th	1863	[16]
2005	Blewett Motorsports	66	Chevy	TMP 31	STA	RIV	WFD	STA	JEN								MAR 3	TMP 18	NHA 10	STA 9	TMP 13*						21st	1509	[17]
		80	Chevy							NHA 40
		00	Dodge								BEE 20	SEE 2	RIV 27			WFD 28
	Blewett Motorsports	66	Dodge											STA 8	TMP 6
2006			Chevy	TMP 36	STA 21	JEN	TMP 11	STA 1	NHA 1	HOL	RIV	STA 23	TMP 22	MAR	TMP 3	NHA 1	WFD	TMP 20	STA 5								23rd	1439	[18]
2007				TMP 29	STA 28	WTO 2	STA 27	TMP 33	NHA 10	TSA	RIV	STA	TMP 16	MAN	MAR	NHA	TMP	STA	TMP								36th	720	[19]

References

1. "LongIslandJam.com: Long Island > NASCAR WMT Series -- Powered by RacerHub". Archived from the original on 2007-08-20. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
2. "Race driver, 33, killed; Death on Thompson track. - Free Online Library".
3. "Wall Township Speedway Memorial Saturday for John Blewett III - Shawn Courchesne | Auto Racing". Archived from the original on 2012-07-09. Retrieved 2010-12-04.
4. "John Blewett III – 1996 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
5. "John Blewett III – 1997 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
6. "John Blewett III – 1998 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
7. "John Blewett III – 1995 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
8. "John Blewett III – 1996 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
9. "John Blewett III – 1997 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
10. "John Blewett III – 1998 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
11. "John Blewett III – 1999 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
12. "John Blewett III – 2000 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
13. "John Blewett III – 2001 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
14. "John Blewett III – 2002 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
15. "John Blewett III – 2003 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
16. "John Blewett III – 2004 NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
17. "John Blewett III – 2005 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
18. "John Blewett III – 2006 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.
19. "John Blewett III – 2007 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 3, 2019.

External links

• John Blewett III driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Official MySpace
• Thompson Speedway Race Results
• Blewett III Profile at RaceHub