Legendary flag man Doug Clark died June 26. He was 72 years old.
A native of Sioux Falls, S.D., Clark was inducted into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame in 2016.
Clark began his career in racing as a teenager, working on various cars. In the late 1970s, he flagged his first race at Hartford Speedway.
When Hartford Speedway closed in 1983, Clark began flagging at the Jackson Motorplex in Minnesota, but not long after he received a call from Knoxville Raceway promoter Ralph Capitani, which led to a full-time gig at the famed half-mile oval.
Clark was the full-time flagger at Knoxville until he retired after the 2022 season. Along the way, he flagged events at tracks in 19 different states.
Clark was well known as an enforcer and a disciplined track official.
“I don’t think it’s a control thing,” Clark said in his Sprint Car Hall of Fame biography. “I just love being part of it. I promised my mom and dad that I wouldn’t drive a race car, so this is my way of being involved.”
