Joe Shear (May 8, 1943 – March 1998) was an American racecar driver from
ClintonClinton is a village in Rock County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 2,162 at the 2000 census . The village is located within the town of Clinton...
,
WisconsinWisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. states. Located in the north-central United States, Wisconsin is considered part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the...
. He won an estimated 350 races in his career, including four of his last five races. Fred Nielsen, Shear's car owner from 1975 to 1984 and 1986 to 1994, said that his team won 250 races and he estimates that Shear won 600 races. He won at least 30 track or touring series championships in his career. Even though he was known as a pavement driver, two of those championships were on the
dirt----Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on oval tracks. It began in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 30s. Two different types of racecars predominated—open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the South...
at
Freeport, IllinoisFreeport is the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...
.
Shear began racing karts as a youth.
Joe Shear (May 8, 1943 – March 1998) was an American racecar driver from
ClintonClinton is a village in Rock County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. The population was 2,162 at the 2000 census . The village is located within the town of Clinton...
,
WisconsinWisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. states. Located in the north-central United States, Wisconsin is considered part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the...
. He won an estimated 350 races in his career, including four of his last five races. Fred Nielsen, Shear's car owner from 1975 to 1984 and 1986 to 1994, said that his team won 250 races and he estimates that Shear won 600 races. He won at least 30 track or touring series championships in his career. Even though he was known as a pavement driver, two of those championships were on the
dirt----Dirt track racing is a type of auto racing performed on oval tracks. It began in the United States before World War I and became widespread during the 1920s and 30s. Two different types of racecars predominated—open wheel racers in the Northeast and West and stock cars in the South...
at
Freeport, IllinoisFreeport is the county seat of Stephenson County, Illinois, United States. The population was 26,443 at the 2000 census. The mayor of Freeport is George W...
.
Racing career
Shear began racing karts as a youth. While he was still under age, he would sneak in the pits to work on his father Al Shear's racecar at
Rockford SpeedwayRockford Speedway is a 1/4 mile short track oval in Rockford, Illinois. It is located in the suburb of Loves Park on Illinois Route 173. Rockford Speedway is the only racetrack running under NASCAR sanction in Illinois....
. His father won the track's championship in 1951, 1962, and 1965. Joe Shear was named the track's Outstanding Mechanic for 1962.
Joe Shear began racing at Rockford in 1964 and he won the track's Rookie of the Year award. He had his first win at the track on his birthday May 8, 1965. In 1972, Shear was awarded his sixth straight Rockford track championship. That year he won the first of his eight National Short Track Championship events at the track.
Shear finished second behind
Dick TrickleRichard "Dick" Trickle is a retired American race car driver. He raced for decades around the short tracks of Wisconsin, winning many championships along the way...
with 58
ARTGOThe ARTGO Challenge Series was a United States midwest short track racing series that ran from 1975 until 2006. Many race car drivers have used the ARTGO series as a stepping stone to get into ASA, ARCA, and NASCAR. A guy by the name of Art Frigo created the series with the help of Bob Roper and...
wins and he won the championship of the
MidwesternThe Midwestern United States is one of the four geographic regions within the United States of America that are officially recognized by the United States Census Bureau....
touring series in 1986 and 1989. In 1979, 1987, and 1989 he won the Red, White, and Blue State championship races at
Wisconsin International RacewayThe Wisconsin International Raceway is a stockcar racing oval and drag strip in Kaukauna, Wisconsin, USA.-Stockcar track:The main track is a half mile D-shaped paved oval. Inside the half mile track is a quarter mile paved conventional oval. The half mile track was added around the existing...
. During the Daytona Speedweeks, he won the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing at
New Smyrna SpeedwayNew Smyrna Speedway is an asphalt track that is 0.47 of a mile in length, located in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, that races Florida Association of Stock Car Automobile Racing stock cars every Saturday night. It also has a smaller track, known as "Little New Smyrna Speedway" in the infield...
in 1988 and 1988, and in 1990 he won the
Volusia County SpeedwayVolusia Speedway Park is an auto racing facility located near Barberville in Volusia County, Florida. It operates a 1/2-mile dirt oval, a 3/8-mile asphalt oval and a 1/8-mile dirt oval for karts...
championship. The four-time winner at the Slinger Nationals at
Slinger Super SpeedwayThe Slinger Super Speedway located in Slinger, Wisconsin, is a quarter mile paved oval automobile race track with a 33-degree bank. The track is billed as "The World's Fastest Quarter Mile Oval."...
(1987, 1990, 1991, 1993) also won the 1994 Wisconsin Short Track Series title in 1994.
Shear won six ARTGO events in 1996 plus five out of six special events at Wisconsin International Raceway. He could feel cancer returning in May 1996, but he decided to continue racing. On February 1997 he had surgery to remove his lymph nodes and muscles on his neck. He was unable to prepare his car for the upcoming season and he received five weeks of radiation.
With his health failing, he won four of the last five races in his career. His final victory was winning the 1997 National Short Track Championship race at Rockford. He was recorded laps 0.2 seconds faster than the rest of the cars at his final event at the Oktoberfest race at LaCrosse Fairgrounds Speedway until his motor blew up. He had won the event five times, mainly later in his career.
Personality
Shear was known for being very quiet. His wife Connie said, "There were times, especially early in his career, when he would not talk to a soul. He would go to the track, unload the car, set a track record, win the feature, and leave."
Death
Shear found out that he had cancer three years before he died. He went to the doctor in November 1997 and found out that cancer had returned. He died in March 1998.
Family in Racing
- Joe Shear, Jr. (son) - Crew chief, Chassis & Shock specialist involved with Sprint Cup, Nascar Camping World Series & late model teams.
- Steve Strasburg (step-son) - Crew chief, Chassis & Shock specialist involved with late model teams and owner of RaceCarHelp.com
- Troy Shear - Car owner, Chassis builder and is a member of the technical committee for Mid-American Racing series
- Troy Shear, Jr. - Driver in the Mid-American Racing series
- Kyle Shear - Driver in the Mid-American Racing series and Big8 Late Model series
Additional reading