Chargin' Charlie Glotzbach passed away today (4/23/2021).
Charlie ran NASCAR off and on and won some cup races but his specialty was short tracks.
Glotzbach set a world record of 199.466 mph in September 1969 at Talladega, driving the Chrysler Engineering No. 88 Dodge Charger Daytona. The car was the pole winner, but Glotzbach, along with most other drivers, sat out the race due to a drivers boycott claiming the tires to be used for the race were unsafe.
Later In 1969, Glotzbach received broken ribs and was shot twice after firing an employee of his trucking company. He returned the next season and continued to run competitively with one of the bullets still in his upper arm.
In 1971 Glotzbach won the caution-free Volunteer 500 at Bristol TN Motor Speedway in a record pace that still stands. The race was completed with an average speed of 101.074 mph (two hours, 38 minutes) at the .533-mile track.
Glotzbach also attempted to qualify for the 1969 and 1970 Indianapolis 500 races, but failed to qualify for either event.
In a charity legends race on March 20, 2010, Glotzbach was involved in a serious crash at Bristol Motor Speedway. He T-boned the driver's side of Larry Pearson at near full speed after Pearson spun. Both drivers suffered injuries, but none were life-threatening.
Glotzbach was found dead in his home in Jeffersonville, IN. He was 82 years old