ARCA

Mansfield: James Hylton preview

MEMPHIS TN (June 17, 2009) -- One rarely runs across a personpossessed with acharismatic attraction the magnitude of the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond. The well-heeled Richmond entered the sport at a time when the vast majority of its drivers were ...

Published: Oct 2, 2009, 4:47 PM

Copy link

Share on Viber

Add as a preferred source

MEMPHIS TN (June 17, 2009) -- One rarely runs across a personpossessed with acharismatic attraction the magnitude of the late NASCAR driver Tim Richmond. The well-heeled Richmond entered the sport at a time when the vast majority of its drivers were primarily from blue-collar backgrounds. Ever the flamboyant playboy, Richmond stood in stark contrast to the mostly conservative NASCAR drivers of the era. Richmond lived life just as he drove, flat-out and to the max. The lasting image of Richmond is at a victory lane party with a trophy in one hand and a beauty queen in the other.

James Hylton is one of the few active drivers that raced with Richmond in NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. On Saturday, Hylton will compete in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Tim Richmond Memorial 200 at Mansfield Motorsports Park in Mansfield OH. During their careers, Richmond and Hylton raced against each other in 51 NASCAR Winston Cup Series events. "I remember getting lapped by race leader Dale Earnhardt Sr at Pocono one afternoon back in the early eighties," reminisced Hylton, "as we were entering turn one, here comes Tim Richmond flat out and at the top of track. We came out three-wide with Richmond passing both me and Earnhardt for the lead. I had never seen anyone take a car that high into a turn and make it stick. I can still see the dust and dirt flying."

During his career, Richmond competed in 185 NASCAR Winston Cup Series events and won on 13 occasions. The Ashland, OH native's career ended prematurely as he became infected with HIV and was physically unable to compete. "If Tim's career hadn't have been cut-short there is no telling what he could have accomplished," stated Hylton, "he definitely would have won a lot more races and probably a championship or two."

Richmond staged a courageous comeback in NASCAR during 1987 that included wins at both Pocono and Michigan. "Richmond could drive a race car better than anyone I've ever seen," said Hylton, "Richmond had the magic; he could drive a car deeper into a turn than anybody that's ever been in NASCAR. He was truly a hard drivin' son of a gun."

-credit: Hylton Motorsports

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article Mansfield: Robb Brent preview

Next article Series Mansfield spotlight - Kevin Cywinski

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Justin Allgaier wins 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly championship as Brandon Jones wins Homestead finale

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Homestead-Miami

4 h

Justin Allgaier wins 2026 NASCAR O'Reilly championship as Brandon Jones wins Homestead finale

Andrew Patterson crashes into Homestead sand barrels, red-flags NASCAR O’Reilly finale

NASCAR O'Reilly

NOAP NASCAR O'Reilly

Homestead-Miami

5 h

Andrew Patterson crashes into Homestead sand barrels, red-flags NASCAR O’Reilly finale

Liam Lawson rues Brazilian GP qualifying mistake despite third-place grid start

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

6 h

Liam Lawson rues Brazilian GP qualifying mistake despite third-place grid start

George Russell's Brazilian GP qualifying fury explained: "Pole was there for the taking"

Formula 1

F1 Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

7 h

George Russell's Brazilian GP qualifying fury explained: "Pole was there for the taking"

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts