Fred Brownfield, 53, raced sprint cars, promoted sport

Fred Brownfield, a champion sprint-car driver and nationally known race promoter who helped increase the sport's popularity in the Pacific Northwest, died Friday evening after he was struck by a car on a racetrack in Grays Harbor County.

Mr. Brownfield, 53, of Snohomish, was painting the chalk line to indicate the starting point for a final race when a racer apparently ran over him, said Dave Pimentel, chief deputy at the Grays Harbor County Sheriff's Department.

The accident occurred before 863 ticket holders at the Grays Harbor Raceway near Elma, Pimentel said.

Steve Beitler, owner of the Skagit Speedway in Burlington, said the driver, whose name has not been released, apparently didn't see Mr. Brownfield. Beitler called the crash "one of those freak things."

"He's been at hundreds of nights of racing, doing the same thing night in and night out," he said. During Saturday night's race in Burlington, which was expected to draw some 7,000 spectators, Beitler planned to honor Mr. Brownfield with a speech. A sprint car was to make a slow lap around the dirt track in his honor.

This weekend's modified-car race at the Grays Harbor track was to be canceled, as were races across the state.

Mr. Brownfield ventured into the sprint-racing scene in 1972 when, as a teenager, he walked up to champion driver Dick Wilskey at the Evergreen Speedway. Wilskey, who had just won another race at the Monroe track, was sitting on the back of a race car signing autographs and sipping a Budweiser. Mr. Brownfield told him, "I'm going to do this someday."

Wilskey offered the young Mr. Brownfield a little advice but never gave him a second thought — that was, until Mr. Brownfield pulled into the pit at Skagit Speedway two weeks later towing a dark-green race car. He told Wilskey he had sold nearly everything he owned. "I bought it, what do I do now?"

With tips from Wilskey and with his father in his pit crew, Mr. Brownfield soon challenged Wilskey and Beitler. His black-and-yellow No. 92 race car won four Skagit Speedway Sprint championships.

"He knew how to slice and slice and dice to get to the front of the pack," Wilskey said. "To beat Fred was a real accomplishment, something you'd brag about the rest of the week."

Unlike stock cars, sprint cars don't look like they could be driven on the open road, having fat back tires, small front tires and a wing mounted to the roof. "They're not built for high speed, they're built more for handling," Wilskey said. "They're more built to get hold of the clay racetrack and go fast."

After retiring from racing in 1994, Mr. Brownfield promoted events at the Skagit Speedway. Four years later, his company, Brownfield Promotions, Inc., took over the aging Grays Harbor Raceway and spruced it up. The Southwest Washington track soon became home of sprint, midget, hobby stocks and modified races.

Shelby Nicoletti of Snohomish, Mr. Brownfield's daughter, said her family didn't worry about his dangerous job. "We have always tried to say, it's God's timing and not ours."

Mr. Brownfield also ran Brownfield Manufacturing, a metal-fabrication company in Snohomish.

Mr. Brownfield is survived by his wife, Debbie Brownfield of Snohomish, and mother, Avanelle Powell of Yuma, Ariz. His children, in addition to Nicoletti, are Carrie Troy of Snohomish; Jessica Kellogg of Ridgefield, Clark County; Ty Brownfield, Snohomish; and Luke Prigg of Miramar, Calif. He is also survived by a sister, Joy Elmer of Arlington, and a brother, Mike Brownfield of Port Orchard.

A memorial will be held at the Grays Harbor Raceway at 2 p.m. June 26.

Jennifer Sullivan: 206-464-8294 or jensullivan@seattletimes.com