Bill Bader Sr., Drag Racing’s Last True P.T. Barnum, Dies in Accident at 79

• Former Summit Motorsports Park owner Bill Bader Sr., who had the rare combination of P.T. Barnum’s showmanship and Warren Buffett’s business savvy, died Sunday at age 79 in an accident on his Idaho property.

• Bader, who also owned the IHRA for a time, and wife Debbie lived north of Riggins, Idaho, since he retired in 2004.

• Bill Bader Jr. currently owns and operates the Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

Every May 22 and June 13, Jim Weinert, the “Picasso of track prep” for the IHRA, would send his wife, Carrie, flowers for her birthday and their anniversary.

Every year after he passed away in March 2012, Bill Bader Sr. stepped in and without fail continued the tradition.

Jumping in and doing what he thought needed doing was Bader’s signature. Seven-time IHRA Alcohol Funny Car champion Mark Thomas visited Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, in 2009 after he retired from racing, and he and two of his young children encountered Bader driving an old pick-up truck that Thomas guessed “wasn’t worth 500 bucks,” collecting trash bags throughout the property. They joined him in his chores.

“We picked up trash for probably two or three hours. Here’s the guy who owns this beautiful racetrack and he could be hanging out with anybody he wants,” Thomas said. Everyone knew the Bill Bader who freely handed out smiles, hugs, kisses, handshakes, and encouraging words, but he got to see the hard-working, roll-up-your-sleeves Bill Bader. “He wasn’t afraid to do anything,” Thomas said.

Dozens of others, such as Paula Motolik Smith, former public-relations manager for both the Norwalk, Ohio, racetrack and the IHRA, never will forget the Bill Bader Sr. who, in her words, “took me under his wing, treated me like his own, taught me business and life lessons, gave me opportunities, saw things in me that I didn’t know existed, challenged me, (very often) aggravated me, and encouraged me and protected me.” She said, “I wish everyone could have a Bill in their life at some point. Because of his faith in me I have countless memories and friendships that I will cherish for a lifetime.”

That is the impact Bill Bader Sr. has had on motorsports and the people who make it work.

But Bader—the larger-than-life character who had the rare combination of P.T. Barnum’s showmanship and Warren Buffett’s business savvy to set the standard for racetrack operations—died Sunday at age 79 in an accident on his Idaho property. Ironically, news reached his son at and family moments after Sunday’s conclusion to the NHRA Summit Equipment Motorsports Park Nationals.

Track owner Bill Bader Jr. issued the following statement shortly after Sunday’s final rounds: “It is with a heavy heart that I share the news that this afternoon my dad was involved in an accident on the mountain he so deeply loved and passed away. I will share more information as it becomes available. Know that my father loved you.”

He is survived by wife Debbie; son Bill Jr. and wife Jayme; daughters Bobbie, Kelly, and Lisa; and grandsons Evan, Garret, Nathan, and Brett.

Bill Bader Sr., and wife Debbie have lived north of Riggins, Idaho, on a steep and remote 3,000-acre mountain homestead that overlooks the Salmon River ever since he retired in 2004. It’s a long way both geographically and chronologically from his world of drag racing, from his lifetime commitment to building first a racetrack, then an entire sanctioning body, that catered to racers and treated fans like royalty. And that was just the way he wanted it, for whatever reasons he had.

He had earned the right to peace and privacy. This man who never had raced only briefly in circle tracks but never had attended a drag race before he bought ramshackle Norwalk Raceway in 1974 at age 27. He transformed it into one of the top drag racing facilities in the country and then went on to purchase the International Hot Rod Association in 1998 and did the same on a grander scale.

He was the fifth owner in IHRA history (after founder Larry Carrier, Texas Motorplex owner Billy Meyer, the tandem of Ted Jones and Jim Ruth, a group of racers, and Elton Alderman). But he was the one who applied his marketing magic and common sense to elevate it to its finest hour. By the time he retired, Bader said, “I’ve attended so many races, I’ve promoted so many events, if I never saw another race, I’m sure my life would be just fine.”