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  *Comments on the 2002 K&N Filters 150:*
  View the most recent comment <#11> | Post a comment <#post>


  1.   Alex posted:
  04.04.2015 - 3:33 pm
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Sadly, John Baker passed away from the injuries he suffered in this
wreck. I believe (not certain) that he was the only driver to die in any
of the four Autozone Elite Division series.


  2.   AnonymousEFR posted:
  04.04.2015 - 3:35 pm
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Apparently he was hit from behind and swerved, ending up with a high
speed hit into the turn two gate.


  3.   AnonymousEFR posted:
  04.04.2015 - 3:39 pm
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Also there was a crash in 1996 at Phoenix that killed Mike Cooke during
a qualifying session.


  4.   Breaker047 posted:
  05.20.2015 - 8:07 pm
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According to an article from the LA Times, John Baker won the pole with
a speed of 100.660MPH, and the attendance was "a near-sellout crowd of
6,160."


  5.   RaceFanX posted:
  10.11.2015 - 12:23 am
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If this race had a silver lining David Gilliland scored the first of his
nine Southwest Tour wins. This was his only win of 2002, the only race
he led this year, and just his fourth start in the series. His prior
attempt to run in the series had been a DNQ so this was a good comeback.


  6.   Morgan Whitter posted:
  04.09.2017 - 3:49 am
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John Baker's crash occurred on the event's 36th lap. After starting on
pole Baker drifted back to around 8th when he and a competitor got
hooked together in turn 2. Sending Baker's car head long into a gate
opening in the track's outter wall. Completely tearing the engine loose
and ripping the left front wheel off as well as throwing pieces of the
fiberglass body into the stands. Luckily no fans or security wereharmed.
The race was red flagged to cut Baker from his car and make repairs to
the area he hit in. Sadly. Baker died upon arrival at the local hospital
of multiple head injuries. RIP Johm Baker


  7.   rm posted:
  01.30.2019 - 7:32 pm
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This race was going to be tape delayed and broadcast on SPEED channel on
June 17th. With the accident, I would guess that this was either edited
out or never aired. In the post-race reports I found, the summaries were
kept unusually brief and Baker's death was never even mentioned there,
nor on the archived version of the series website until 2 days later.
And that is merely a mention of his passing at that.

Time of race - 1:03:30
Average speed - 70.866 mph
Margin of victory - 0.480 seconds
Cautions - 5 for 31 laps

First caution - laps 14-17
Second caution - laps 29-32
Third caution - laps 38-47 - 9, 18, 45 accident turn 2 (Red flag,
obviously.)
Fourth caution - laps 129-136
Fifth caution - laps 143-147

Winnings:
Gilliland - $5,425
Vidovich - $1,000
Whitt - $1,050
Lamar - $880
Baker - $1,120


  8.   Seibaru posted:
  01.30.2019 - 9:37 pm
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This race was never aired. Apparently it was replaced by a re-airing of
the February Goody's Dash Daytona race.


  9.   acerogers58 posted:
  04.14.2020 - 7:11 am
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Nick Joanides also had a massive crash in this race, most of the front
and rear were ripped off.


  10.   acerogers58 posted:
  04.14.2020 - 7:11 am
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I found photos of Baker's wreck here
http://bcsportsimages.com/is/2000-2003/photobooth/thumbnails.php?album=100

Sean Woodside's sponsor for this race was Lucas Oil, not Woodisde Online
according to these images.


  11.   rm posted:
  10.30.2020 - 9:09 pm
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Fifth caution - laps 142-146 - 10, 74 accident turn 2 (my bad on the lap
count)

As alluded to briefly above, Joanides took a very nasty shot as well in
an incident that was uncomfortably similar to the fatal accident Baker
had been involved in earlier in the night (and, arguably, gave the
appearance of being worse as he caught some pretty big air). The only
difference seemed to be that Joanides climbed out with a concussion and
a broken rib while Baker didn't climb out at all. That fact was not lost
on Joanides, a friend of Baker's, who wrote a scathing critique of the
Irwindale track layout online before Monday morning even rolled
around...and then doubled down the following week when the race
broadcast never aired as announced and the tragedy went hardly
acknowledged by NASCAR, SPEED Channel and the greater community as a whole.

10 sponsor - Colorfast Industries


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