| Gene Tapia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | March 16, 1925 Mobile, Alabama |
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| Died | April 12, 2005 | ||||||
| Cause of death | Unknown | ||||||
| Awards | Inducted in the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame (1999) | ||||||
| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career | |||||||
| 4 races run over 2 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 134th - 1953 (Grand National) | ||||||
| First race | 1951 Lakeview Speedway (Mobile, Alabama) | ||||||
| Last race | 1953 Five Flags Speedway (Pensacola, Florida) | ||||||
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Eugene "Gene" H. Tapia (March 16, 1925 – April 12, 2005) was an American race car driver from Mobile, Alabama.[1] He competed in four NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) races,[1] but he is best known for racing in the #327 supermodified. He was nicknamed the "King of the Supermodifieds."
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Tapia was born on March 16, 1925 to Ada and Homer Tapia.[2] In around 1934, he attended a dirt track race with his father.[2] He attended a thrill show with his uncle and his father started taking him to motorcycle races in the mid 1930s.[2]
Tapia got married, and at age 17 he left to work as a civilian on a military base in Alaska because he was involved in a street fight.[3] The county district attorney suggested that he should leave town to avoid prosecution.[3] He was wounded when the Japanese attacked Dutch Harbor in June 1942.[3] While he was gone, his wife gave birth to a boy named Larry Eugene Tapia in September 1942 at Memphis, Tennessee.[3] Before either parent was able to see the baby, he was stolen by Georgia Tann's baby theft ring that worked at the hospital.[3][4] He returned to Mobile and decided to enlist in the United States Marine Corps in June 1943.[3] He served with the Third Marine Division in Guadalcanal, the first-day invasion of Guam, and spent over 35 days on Iwo Jima.[3]
In 1948, Tapia's began racing to get battle stress off his mind. That year, his car lost a wheel just after he crossed the finish line to win his first stock car race at Chisholm Fairgrounds in Montgomery, Alabama.[2] He raced in several NASCAR races that season. During his brief time spent racing in NASCAR, he won the Florida state title and the 1953 Mississippi state title.[4] He left the circuit because he wanted to race five nights per week instead of one night.[3] "Tapia was right up there with the best," said Donnie Allison. "He could have made it real good in NASCAR, if he had chosen. But I think his regard for his family and the desire to race more frequently is what kept him closer to home."[3]
Tapia won the 1968 and 1969 World 300 Supermodified race at Mobile International Speedway.[3] The event is billed as the "world's richest supermodified race".[3]
Tapia was able to meet his son in 1990. The 47-year-old, who was living in Missouri, was told that his parents had died in an automobile accident.[3] Tapia died in 2005 at the age of 80.[3]
He was inducted in the Alabama Auto Racing Pioneers Hall of Fame in 1999.[2]