DAVE DANISH PASSES
Condolences can be sent in care of Mike Yurick, California Speedway, 9300 Cherry Ave., Fontana, CA 92335; e-mail, caoperations@californiaspeedway.com.
Dave Danish, general manager of Southwestern Int'l Raceway, an NHRA
Division 7 track in Tucson, Ariz., died May 15, four days
after suffering a major heart attack. At the direction of family members,
doctors at San
Antonio Community Hospital in
Upland, Calif., removed Danish from life-support
systems in the afternoon, and he succumbed peacefully a few hours later. He was
61.
Condolences can be sent in care of Mike Yurick, California Speedway, 9300 Cherry Ave., Fontana, CA 92335; e-mail, caoperations@californiaspeedway.com.
Danish served as NHRA Division 3 tech director from 1978 to 1983, when he was named NHRA's national tech director, a position he held until 1994.
After leaving NHRA, Danish worked with the Mickey Thompson Entertainment Group putting on AMA Supercross events before moving into dragstrip operations, where he proved an effective leader, first at SIR – where under his stewardship the track was first named Most Improved Racetrack and later Track of the Year for Division 7 -- and most recently at Auto Club Dragway. Under Danish's direction, Auto Club Dragway received the Best Lucas Oil Division 7 Track award in 2005 for the second year in a row. Danish recently resigned from his post at the Fontana track to return to SIR. Last weekend's Andy Robles Memorial Auto Club Jr. Dragster Series event was his last event as manager at the track.
"On behalf of the entire NHRA racing community, we mourn the loss of one of our long-time friends of drag racing, Dave Danish," said Graham Light, NHRA senior vice president of racing operations. "He will be remembered for not only his many years of service in NHRA's tech department, but as an effective leader at Southwestern International Raceway in Tucson and Auto Club Dragway at California Speedway. Few would argue his life-long love affair with the sport of drag racing. It is with our deepest sympathy that we pass along our condolences to his wife Cathy, the Danish family, and the entire drag racing community."
Danish is survived by his wife, Cathy, daughters Wende and Sheri, and two grandchildren. Services are pending.
