Elton
"Al" Eckstrand, who campaigned the Lawman series of Dodge Stockers and
toured them overseas to entertain and inform U.S. troops in the 1960s,
died May 10 in Naples, Fla., after a short illness. He was 79.
 |
Elton
"Al" Eckstrand, who campaigned the Lawman series of Dodge Stockers and
toured them overseas to entertain and inform U.S. troops in the 1960s,
died May 10 in Naples, Fla., after a short illness. He was 79.
Eckstrand,
a former Chrysler Corp. lawyer, won the 1963 Winternationals and was
runner-up at that year’s Nationals in Indianapolis. When he retired
from competition in 1965, he worked with upper management at Chrysler
and was given a ’66 Hemi Charger to use in a tour of U.S. military
bases in Europe and Vietnam. A large number of American servicemen were
returning to civilian life after their tours of duty in Vietnam and
were a growing statistic among the 50,000 fatalities on the highways at
the time. In the eight years that the program existed, Eckstrand and
the USA Motorsports Association that he founded gave demonstrations to
hundreds of thousands of outgoing soldiers.
After living in
Europe for three decades, Eckstrand, a member of the International Drag
Racing Hall of Fame, returned to the United States in 1999, bringing
with him the famous Dodge, which was selected to join the collection of
the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills, Mich.
