Scott Frazier spent much of his life at Riverside International Speedway, the West Memphis dirt track his family says became a second home. The 58-year-old Bartlett man died after a crash there during Saturday night's King of the Ditch event.
Track owner Clayton Allen announced the death in a social media video Sunday morning. He said Frazier was rushed to a hospital after a severe crash and died there. Allen said Frazier was "doing something that he loved." He also said the race was canceled and will be rescheduled, WMC Action News 5 reported.
Frazier's car flipped several times and struck the fence, according to reports cited by the Wynne Progress. His obituary says he died Sunday, Sept. 20, at Regional One Medical Center in Memphis. Neither the track nor local authorities have publicly described how the crash happened or confirmed what class of car Frazier was driving.
The driver of the No. 5
According to his obituary, published by Forest Hill Funeral Home, Aubrey Scott Frazier was born on Christmas Eve 1967. He graduated from Bartlett High School in 1985, attended the University of Memphis, and built a long career with Nabisco. The obituary also describes him as a devoted animal lover and a supporter of the Humane Society.
Dirt track racing was his biggest passion, one he first shared with his father as a boy. The obituary says he was known around Riverside as the driver of the No. 5 car. It describes the friends he made at the track as a second family.
His stepdaughter, Abbi Moore, shared news of his death on social media, writing that he cherished the track and the camaraderie around it, the Wynne Progress reported.
A track with 75 years of history
Riverside, at 151 Legion Road, opened in 1950 as a venue for midget car racing and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, according to Wikipedia's entry on the track. Its quarter-mile, high-clay "gumbo" oval earned it the nickname "The Ditch," the name behind Saturday's event.
The track's website calls it the oldest continually operated dirt track in Arkansas. It counts sprint car star Sammy Swindell and NASCAR's Ricky Stenhouse among the drivers who have raced there. Clayton and Sherry Allen own the track.
Services
Visitation will be held Friday, Sept. 25, from 12:30 to 2 p.m. at Forest Hill Funeral Home and Memorial Park–East, 2440 Whitten Road in Memphis. The funeral service will follow at 2 p.m., with interment at 3 p.m. David Berryman will officiate.
Riverside has not announced a new date for the King of the Ditch. Hoodline will update this story if the speedway, local authorities, or Frazier's family release more information.
