Bill Rafter obit

Sad News – Bill Rafter Has Died

 

He was not on the list.

He was a stock racing pioneer and a hero to so many. William “Bill” Rafter of Sanborn, New York, passed away on March 2 at age 96.

Rafter was one of the original NASCAR Grand National Series (now NASCAR Cup Series) drivers from its inaugural 1949 season. Bill competed in 33 NASCAR-sanctioned races and scored 11 top-10 finishes, including third place at Hamburg, N.Y. in 1949, and 10th at Watkins Glen in 1957. His most productive year was 1958, competing in 18 races and scoring eight top-10s.

Rafter’s racing career began in Midgets in 1948 and progressed to stock cars in 1949. At the time, his home track was Buffalo’s Civic Stadium, a quarter-mile asphalt oval laid around the football field, similar to Bowman Gray Stadium. He won 28 (documented) features there. It is said he won 100 races at the track, which is entirely possible, since publicity people and newspapers counted heats, consolations, and B-Features as “wins.” He won the track’s final championship, in 1959, before the stock cars were ousted to make way for the Buffalo Bisons baseball team.

I asked a retired driver, Bill Bitterman, who raced against and greatly admired Rafter, what was so special about this man. “He was so talented. He could win in anything he drove. Late Models, Midgets, Super Bombs, Modifieds, anything,” said Bitterman. “He was my hero.”

Rafter was a tough guy. He survived two serious incidents that would have shelved the careers of lesser men. On Monday, Aug. 3, 1964, Rafter was competing in a 50-lap holiday special for dirt Modifieds at Merrittville Speedway in St. Catharines, Ont. Rafter was leading the race on lap 16 when another car tossed up a large rock. Published reports estimate the rock weighed 2 lbs. It crashed through his windscreen and hit him just above his left eye. He suffered a fractured skull and was bleeding profusely, but managed to win the race. He took the checkered flag, steered his coupe toward the ambulance in the infield, and collapsed. Rafter was hospitalized and underwent surgery to relieve pressure above his eye. Just eight days after his near-death experience, Rafter returned to Merrittville and won the feature – his eighth of the season – and maintained his points lead to win the 1964 Modified championship.

The second incident occurred on Sept. 20, 1970, at Perry (N.Y.) Raceway. Holland (N.Y.) Bill was driving for revered car builder “Doc” Hoctor, a WWII bomber pilot from Buffalo who was famous for fast equipment. Holland Speedway and Perry formed a two-track circuit and shared the same classes. Holland raced on Saturdays, Perry on Sunday afternoons. The two tracks’ overall points champion was awarded an additional $1,000 and the tracks’ pace car. Rafter clinched the Holland championship on Sept. 19. While racing in the feature at Perry, the engine blew on lap 26 as he was headed down the back straightaway. The yellow Chevelle, nicknamed the “Bad Banana,” burst into flames. Although he quickly spun the car around in Turn 3 to avoid the blaze, he was burned by the oil. He was taken to Emergency Hospital’s Burn Center in Buffalo, where he was treated for, among other injuries, second-degree burns on his hands. At the time, Rafter was leading the New Car (Late Model) points by 28 over Dick Flaig. With just one more race remaining on the Perry schedule, all Rafter had to do was enter the event and run just one lap of the feature and the overall championship would be his. That’s when the negotiations began. Bill pleaded with his doctors to release him for one day so he could attempt to run one lap and cash in. His physicians feared the risk of infection, since he was not wearing gloves at the time of the fire. They found a sympathetic intern at the hospital who agreed to accompany Bill to the track if he decided to go. On Friday, Bill informed Buffalo Evening News reporter Bob Feeney he’d thought better of risking further injury. He remained in the hospital and Dick Flaig won the Perry championship. Fans donated money to the Burn Treatment Center in Rafter’s name and Lancaster Speedway photographer Gordie Reinig, who also worked as a Buffalo fireman, instituted an annual Burn Treatment Center Night with the help of promoters Ed Serwacki and Jim Vollertsen.

Bill’s hands healed and he returned to racing, and winning, behind the wheel of Al Cretsinger’s “Pepsi Blue” Camaros. Bill retired at the end of 1972 but came back to race briefly in 1976 and 1984.

In addition to his NASCAR Grand National exploits, Bill raced and won at countless short tracks all over the northeast and Ontario. He won the 1959 New York State Sportsman title, and was the 1959, 1960, 1962 and 1964 New York State Fair champion. He won points titles at Lancaster (1960 and 1965), Speedway Park in Hamilton, Ontario (1964 and 1965) and the final stock car race at Exhibition Stadium, home of the Canadian National Exposition, in Toronto in 1966. He won the famed Holland 100 in 1969 and 1970, and earned checkered flags at Brantford and Humberstone, in Canada. Bill was an undisputed hall-of-famer, inducted into the Race of Champions Hall of Fame, FOAR Score Fan Club Hall of Fame, Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame, Merrittville Speedway Hall of Fame, and the N.Y. State Stock Car Association Hall of Fame.

After his retirement, Bill worked at Daytona International Speedway for 15 years.

Bill is survived by wife of 71 years, Joyce (Bruss), and children Judith, Lori, William Jr., and Kristen. He is predeceased by an infant son, brother Robert, and sister Janet. Friends may call at the DuBois Funeral Home, 2436 Niagara Rd., Wheatfield, N.Y., on Friday, March 6, from 4-8 p.m.  Services will be conducted on Saturday, March 7, at 10:30 a.m. at St. James Lutheran Church, 2437 Niagara Rd., Bergholz, N.Y.  Interment with military honors will follow in the church cemetery.  Memorial contributions may be made to the Niagara County SPCA.