Big T's

Big T's

Wednesday, December 5, 2012

A Legend Has Passed

  
Submitted by: T.J. Roberts

     National Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer Rance Phillips, a south Georgia dirt racer who piled up more than 700 career victories, died this week. He was 78.
     He was found in his Hamilton County, Fla., home on Tuesday by a sheriff’s deputy after family members weren’t able to make contact with him. His death was confirmed by Roberts Racing of Sparks, Georgia, a team Phillips worked with for several years.
    Phillips, who competed in a vintage race car event a few seasons back, won hundreds of races along with more than 10 track championships at tracks in Georgia and Florida. He once had a 12-race winning streak at Jacksonville, Fla., where he was also the winner of the Jacksonville 100 in 1989.
Among his other major victories: the 1967 Waycross 75 at Waycross (Ga.) Speedway; the 1979 Nimnicht Chevrolet 100 at Golden Isles Speedway near Brunswick, Ga.; the 1980 Easter 100 at Columbia County Speedway in Lake City, Fla.; and the 1980 Georgia-Florida 100 at Lake City.
   Phillips was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2011. He was inducted into the Jacksonville Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame two years earlier.
RANCE PHILLIPS
(1934-2012)