SUZUKA CITY, Japan
NASCAR official Elmo Langley, 68, passed away Thursday afternoon (local time) at Suzuka General Hospital of apparent heart failure.
Langley, a native of Maryland and a resident of Harrisburg, N.C., was a former NASCAR Winston Cup driver with two wins in a career that spanned nearly two decades from the late 1950s until the early 1970s. He was a NASCAR official and pace car driver for six years.
Elmo Harrell Langley was born on Aug. 21, 1929, in Cresswell, N.C., a small town near that states famed Outer Banks.
He grew up in the Washington, D.C., area, and ran his first race at the Maryland Airport Speedway in Pomonkey in 1952.
In the past 40 years, Langley saw more racing than most men will in a lifetime.
As he got older, Langley gradually cut back on driving and became a car owner. He fielded cars in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series primarily for Tommy Gale in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He also had various drivers including Ken Schrader, Jimmy Hensley, Curtis Markham and Clark Dwyer in cars through late '80s. He briefly worked for Cale Yarborough Motorsports before becoming pace car driver for NASCAR in April of 1989.
Langley was in Japan for the NASCAR Suzuka Thunder Special 100 stock car race to be run Sunday, Nov. 24.
"We are very saddened by this sudden development," said Bill France, president of NASCAR. "Elmo was a long-time friend of the NASCAR family, of which he was a vital part. He will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his family."
Langley is survived by four sons.
