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NASCAR Cup series driver Hylton, son, killed in traffic accident

Published on Saturday, April 28, 2018

James Hylton, 83, who raced for more than half a century at NASCAR’s Cup level, died Saturday in a traffic accident after leaving Talladega Superspeedway. Hylton’s son, James “Tweety” Hylton Jr., 61, also died in the wreck, according to official reports.

 Both Hyltons lived in Inman.

 The accident occurred at 6:10 a.m. Saturday when the vehicle ran off the roadway and hit an embankment on I-85 in Franklin County. The Hyltons, according to news reports, were passengers in a vehicle hauling a trailer.

 Hylton Sr. was at Talladega Superspeedway on Friday for the ARCA Series race. He still owned a car in the series.

 The South Carolina driver/owner won Cup races in 19970 at Richmond and 1972 at Talladega and had 140 top-5 finishes in 602 career starts. He last raced in the Cup series in 1993. He attempted to qualify for the 2007 Daytona 500 but did not make the field. He raced against all the giants in NASCAR, from Richard Petty to Dale Earnhardt to Jeff Gordon. Hylton continued to race in ARCA cars until 2013, when he was 78 years old.

 According to the Roanoke Times, officers told Hylton’s wife, Evelyn that crew chief Terry Strange was driving the car and thought Hylton was having a heart attack. He said he then lost control of the vehicle. Photos of the wreckage began showing up on Twitter soon afterward.

 

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