While that race might have gotten away, on June 1, 1996, Cassella captured Stapp‘s 50th win as an owner at Michigan‘s I-96 Speedway. Then, on the last day of August, Cassella and Stapp signed in at Indiana‘s Lawrenceburg Speedway. What followed was one of the most memorable races in the track‘s history.
Cassella picks up the story.
“That race went nearly non-stop,” he said. “And the car just got faster and faster. I was third when we took the white flag and Kevin Thomas got a little bit sideways. Going into three I said, ‘Dave (Darland), if you go low, you‘re mine.‘ So, Dave went down there because he thought Thomas was there and I was on the outside.”
In a drag race to the flag, with the crowd on their feet and screaming, Cassella nipped Darland at the line for Stapp‘s 51st and final victory as an owner. It is a mark that places him third all-time on the USAC entrant‘s win list.
The story of The Bopper goes well beyond tales of wins and losses. First, one must also cover his near brushes with death.
For years, Stapp would head out to a nearby rail line and dispose of old tires by pitching them in empty cars as the train passed. On Dec. 13, 2011, the train tried to extract a bit of revenge. He was in his motorhome when he was hit by a CSX train on the line next to his shop. Steve was ejected and flew 75 feet through the air while the motorhome proceeded at the head of the train for another half-mile.
In typical Stapp fashion, he proudly reported that the engine had to be sent to West Virginia for repairs. At his passing, nearly everyone remarked that they thought he might live forever after surviving that ordeal.
Then there was the celebrated return to a sprint car on his 75th birthday. Buzzy Dobbins remembers the day well.
“He called me and told me he was going to go to Putnamville (Lincoln Park Speedway) and drive,” Dobbins recalled. “I said, ‘So you have someone to drive?‘ He said ‘No, I am. And for God‘s sake don‘t tell Pancho.‘
“Then I got a call from Rosemary, who was beside herself, and I don‘t blame her. She said Steve is trying to commit suicide. But I reminded her that sometimes old guys like to relive the past. It had been 50 years since he had driven. Then I got a call from Steve‘s daughter Susannah, who said ‘Don‘t worry about coming down, he‘s already crashed.’”
Stapp had rented the track to take a car through its paces and he had actually turned some hot laps until a wall told him he was through for the day. There was a plan to go to dinner, but when Dobbins arrived at the restaurant, Stapp was still sitting in his truck.
When he got out, he was in tremendous pain and then admitted he didn‘t want to go into the restaurant. He was taking short breaths, and finally turned to his old friend and admitted that he hurt so bad he could hardly stand it.
“Then came the key moment. Dobbins turned to Stapp and said, “Steve I have a question to ask you. If you knew you were going to hurt as bad as you do right now, would you have got in that sprint car and run it? It didn‘t take a half-second to answer. He said ‘Oh yeah, I would do it again.”
Surprised to say the least, Dobbins asked why. Stapp recalled in the days he raced the cars had perhaps 250 to 300 horsepower, and on this day he had perhaps 800 horsepower to work with.
Stapp then turned to Buzzy and added, “It‘s magical when you roll into that gas pedal, I never felt anything like it.”
That was Steve Stapp.
There are few people in our world today who could cut up with A.J. Foyt and talk about what it was like to work with A.J. Watson. As Dobbins spent more time with Stapp, he was amazed at the range of contacts he had.
“I would go out to California with Steve,” Dobbins recalled, “and we would go to Hilborn injection and he would look for Stu. We went to see Don Edmunds. He didn‘t ask for the lowly guy; he would ask for the guy whose name was on the wall. It was people I had read about in Hot Rod magazine, and suddenly I was standing in their presence. All that time, Steve didn‘t brag on who he knew. It was the grandest experience of my life knowing Steve Stapp.”
The grand experience of knowing Steve Stapp was shared by many. He was outgoing and gregarious, and any time he held court, at any setting, a crowd was sure to gather. He was impossible not to love.
His son Andy and daughter Susanna have continued in the Stapp tradition through their involvement in the sport.
Stapp is an inductee of the Hoosier Auto Racing Fans Hall of Fame, USAC Hall of Fame, and the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame. At a recent celebration of his life at the USAC office in Speedway, Ind., the most common phrase used to describe Stapp was that he was “a true treasure.” He was.
Stapp was absolutely one of a kind. He once stopped a train and crashed a sprint car at the age of 75. If anyone deserved to die in his sleep, it was him.
Among those who have devoted their life to sprint car racing, few have made a greater impact. To keep him with us, it is now our job to keep the
stories coming.