A native of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, Jimmy Reece was a veteran of six Indianapolis 500 races, with three top-ten finishes in 1952 (7th place), 1956 (9th) and 1958 (6th). During the 1958 edition of the 500-mile classic, Reece started from the outside of the first row, being involved in the fifteen cars pile-up which occurred on the opening lap of the race. Trying to avoid Ed Elisian and Dick Rathmann who had touched wheels crashing into the outside wall at Turn 3, Jimmy Reece made for the infield and applied full brakes to his car, which was struck by Bob Veith. Pat O'Connor hit Veith's car and catapulted over Reece, flipped and was killed.
When the race resumed, Reece managed to finish 6th. It was reported that he considered himself responsible for O'Connor's death, due to his braking maneuver. Sadly, four months later Jimmy Reece would lose his life.
He was fatally injured when his car went off the high-banked track and sailed 150 feet, before hitting a fence, during the AAA-American Automobile Association National Championship's Trenton 100-Mile Race, in Trenton, New Jersey. While dicing for second place with Johnny Thomson on the last lap of the race, the left wheels of Jimmy Reece's car hit the dirt on the inside of the track on the approach to a turn. The Kurtis 500G - Offenhauser "Bowes Seal Fast" #14 swung out of control, roared up an embankment and crashed into the fence. Reece was thrown out of the cockpit, landing more than 25 feet from his badly damaged car. He died shortly afterwards, without regaining consciousness. He was 28. He was survived by his wife and two children.
Jimmy Reece is interred at Rose Hill Burial Park, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States.
The accident happened on Sunday, 28 September 1958. This proved to be a black day in motorsports: the day of Jimmy Reece's death, Glen Wagner was killed in a NASCAR Sportsman Modified race at New York State Fairgrounds, and Britain's Frank Richardson died at Brandon Stadium in Coventry, England, UK, becoming the first fatality in British midget car racing.
R.I.P
