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  *Comments on the 2000 O'Reilly 400:*
  View the most recent comment <#36> | Post a comment <#post>


  1.   Mike Lindeen posted:
  09.18.2004 - 10:20 pm
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Tony Roper lost his life in a head on crash with Steve Grissom on lap 32.


  2.   Thomas posted:
  12.03.2005 - 10:01 am
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The first and only win in NASCAR competition for racing veteran and 1995
ASA champion Bryan Reffner. The Tony Roper crash looked bad. Several
trucks crashed between the exit of turn 4 and the frontstretch, one (I
think it was Steve Grissom) came off the wall and clipped Tony in the
right rear with his left front. He went head on at full speed into the
part of the dogleg wall where it juts out. In addition, there were a lot
of other big crashes; like the four truck pileup on the first lap and
when Derrike Cope got airborne after hitting the inside backstretch wall
on lap 114. Another weird fact; ESPN kept running commercials for Ralph
Nader's presidential campaign during this race. The Roper crash finished
just as they were coming back from one.


  3.   J. Kircher posted:
  04.19.2006 - 5:21 pm
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Greg Biffle clinched the Truck Series championship, which was the first
NASCAR title for owner Jack Roush.


  4.   Darrell posted:
  07.29.2006 - 3:21 pm
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Mark Petty, who had been involved in that Roper crash, comes home tenth.

RIP Tony. Probably would have been a good driver at the Trucks and Busch
level if he had the right ride. He was driving around in pretty much
junk his whole career.


  5.   Fenway posted:
  09.27.2006 - 10:55 pm
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Bryan Reffner's only career victory is overshadowed by the tragic death
of Tony Roper.

He died pursing his passion ... that seems the most appropriate thing to
say. That was such a vicious hit.


  6.   Darrell posted:
  10.07.2006 - 10:48 pm
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I think Grissom was involved in the Roper accident, as well as his
teammate Mark Petty, who got his only top-ten that night.

There was definitely a full moon on the track that night. Hadn't they
already had a red flag when Roper wrecked?


  7.   Matt posted:
  10.18.2006 - 2:46 pm
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I believe the race was red flagged after the crash on lap 2. Biffle
broke some ribs in his crash and Cope almost flipped over the inside
backstretch wall after being drilled by a spinning Jack Sprague.


  8.   Thomas posted:
  12.18.2006 - 1:43 am
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It was red-flagged on lap 2 for the crash involving Eric Norris and Chad
Chaffin, among others. Biffle cut a tire down and hit the wall head on
in turn 2 while they were on his in-truck camera, but still hung on for
the championship. He was even there for the post-race celebration, in
pain from the cracked ribs.


  9.   biffle16 posted:
  01.14.2007 - 9:35 pm
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Biffle's worst finish of 2000.

RIP Tony.


  10.   David posted:
  04.02.2007 - 4:53 am
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jamie mcmurray drove half the 2000 CTS season in the #26 truck for the
same team and truck that tony roper drove for in texas. scary to think
what if mcmurray didnt go to the 41 team and if he was drving the 26


  11.   nascarman posted:
  05.20.2007 - 11:33 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

It's kinda weird how there was a full moon on Friday the 13th then Tony
Roper and Derrick Cope had bad crashes.


  12.   FHgrad99 posted:
  09.13.2007 - 7:44 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

This was a tragic race. I had the chance to meet Tony Roper when he was
driving in ASA. He was a nice guy. This was a tragic 12 months for the
Roper family. Tony's father Dean Roper, who had been a successful ARCA
driver, died during an ARCA race in Springfield, IL, the following year.
It is believed that Dean suffered a heart attack in his car and tried to
pull off into the pits before his car came to a rest.


  13.   most posted:
  01.24.2008 - 1:44 am
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

That Cope crash sure was nasty, that was a bad weekend in motorsports,
an IHRA driver was killed the next day in a crash. There are 3 times I
saw crashes and my gut told me someone was not living any longer, this
one, Dale Sr. and Darrell Russell in the NHRA.


  14.   JP posted:
  02.26.2008 - 4:33 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (5)

Scary thing to think what would have happened if Jamie McMurray never
switched teams just weeks before this

I just remember I was watching the race and I was only like 9 and all of
a sudden they came back from commercial and the #26 and #43 were hooked
together and the whole front end of Roper's car was destroyed

RIP Tony Roper 1964-2000


  15.   Clayton posted:
  03.11.2008 - 1:55 am
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Roper tried to split two trucks three wide and there just wasn't enough
room and his truck hit the outside wall and then was hit by Steve
Grissioms truck in the driver side door and then a fire happened! Not
sure what killed Roper, the outside hit or Grissom's both were very bad!

It was said perfectly, died persuing a dream! RIP Tony Roper


  16.   Clayton posted:
  03.11.2008 - 1:56 am
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The two trucks Roper tried to split were the 51 of Rick Ware and the 43
of Steve Grissom


  17.   jeff posted:
  04.19.2008 - 12:26 am
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Roper died of a basal skull fracture, which is the same thing Dale Sr.
died from. The original hit into the outside wall is what killed him
instantly, not the hit from Grissom's truck. It was one of the
worst-looking wrecks I've ever seen...

RIP Tony...


  18.   Matt posted:
  11.28.2008 - 10:18 pm
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Eric Norris's truck owner in this race was Jim Smith.


  19.   Dodge posted:
  11.01.2009 - 11:41 am
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If I recall, Tony Roper was alive but unconcious but passed away after
he got to a hospital.


  20.   Anonymous posted:
  11.13.2009 - 7:42 pm
   Rate this comment:      (12)      (1)

"scary to think what if mcmurray didnt go to the 41 team and if he was
drving the 26"

"Scary thing to think what would have happened if Jamie McMurray never
switched teams just weeks before this"

What in the world are you people talking about? Are you being serious?
Would McMurray have been in that exact same position that Roper was in?
No, probably not. And why is it so scary to think of McMurray being in
that truck instead of Roper? Would McMurray dying have been more tragic?
Think before you post.


  21.   Anonymous posted:
  01.27.2010 - 1:18 pm
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Biffle had a hard hit in the wall too


  22.   gary24fan posted:
  06.10.2010 - 6:38 pm
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Truck numbers for the DNQ's:

Wayne Edwards - 93
Richie Hearn - 23
Gene Christensen - 92
Bobby Dotter - 45
Jay Stewart - 33
Ron Barfield Jr. - 97
Carl Long - 32
Morgan Shepherd - 80


  23.   We need more Onion posted:
  04.14.2013 - 2:19 pm
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Last truck race without Crafton so far.


  24.   FortiFord posted:
  04.05.2015 - 4:25 pm
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Richie Hearn's only Truck Series entry


  25.   SpiderTre posted:
  01.07.2016 - 2:13 am
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this would be the last truck race that had a truck numbered 26. Patrick
Lawson attempted a #26 in 2004 but didn't make the race


  26.   Gdj_24 posted:
  07.22.2017 - 9:13 pm
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In the midst of the tragic demise of Tony Roper, Mark Petty scored his
only career top 10 finish.


  27.   rm posted:
  08.09.2017 - 11:54 pm
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DNQ info:

37. 80 Shepherd
38. 45 Dotter
39. 93 Edwards
40. 97 Barfield
41. 32 Long
42. 33 Stewart
44. 23 Hearn
45. 92 Christensen


  28.   Anonymous posted:
  06.07.2019 - 12:53 pm
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As of 2019, this is still the last Truck Series race without Matt Crafton.


  29.   Tarheel posted:
  06.07.2019 - 1:38 pm
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28, it's hard to believe he's been around that long. Pretty impressive,
the Iron Man of the truck series?


  30.   34McDowellFan posted:
  06.07.2019 - 1:42 pm
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@29

For sure, he has the most starts in the series's history and they're
also consecutive starts, tonight will be his 439th start in a row


  31.   Mile501 posted:
  08.08.2019 - 9:34 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

In 19 career starts across NASCAR's top 3 series, this was Rick Ware's
best ever finish as a driver (13th, 3 laps down). He never finished on
the lead lap. He did finish just 1 lap down at Watkins Glen a few months
before this race, but was in the 22nd position.


  32.   Darrell posted:
  10.10.2019 - 9:49 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

Missing Crew Chiefs:

No. 5: Tim Brewer
No. 9: Marty Walsh
No. 17: Lance McGrew
No. 18: Fred Wanke
No. 20: Clinton Cram
No. 31: Dan Gibbs
No. 32: Jason Roche
No. 33: Howard Bixman
No. 41: Todd Myers
No. 43: Travis Owens
No. 44: Ritchie Petty
No. 45: J.R. Wiest
No. 54: Todd Davis
No. 58: Lonnie Rush
No. 71: Stan Rowland
No. 80: Stan Hover
No. 86: Kenny Majors
No. 92: Bobby dotter
No. 93: Art Rogers
No. 97: Nathan Hunter
No. 00: Bob Kocher
No. 05: Tommy Sawyer

Withdrew:

No. 05 Bobby Hillis - First Impressions Chevrolet (Robert Hillis)


  33.   Anonymous posted:
  12.13.2019 - 8:29 pm
   Rate this comment:      (1)      (0)

25 until Tyler Ankrum in 2020. 20 Years since the number 26 was in a
truck race.


  34.   Foote posted:
  04.06.2020 - 4:22 pm
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It's kind of lucky that we haven't had another crash like Roper's in
this race-- straight into the wall in the quadoval at a track like
Texas, Atlanta etc. The quadoval creates a nasty angle of impact. Also I
must confess that I've never heard of the winner of this race, Bryan
Reffner.


  35.   Rich posted:
  09.19.2020 - 9:07 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Marty Reid and Jeremy Dale were the commentators. Dave Burns and Amy
East were the pit road reporters.


  36.   JustAGamingNascarFan posted:
  08.20.2021 - 11:01 pm
   Rate this comment:      (0)      (0)

Even 21 years later it's sad to see what happened to Tony


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