Sprint car driver helping others as donor after dying at racetrack

LAWRENCEBURG, Ind. (WXIX/Gray News) - A sprint car racer will help others waiting for organs after he died at a racetrack in Indiana.

WXIX reports that 26-year-old Justin Owen died last weekend at the Lawrenceburg Speedway.

“I knew he was going really fast, and the impact was violent,” Justin’s father, Scott Owen, said. “He couldn’t steer after impact and just went straight to the wall.”

Justin Owen was competing in the USAC AMSOIL sprint car international championship when the crash occurred. His vehicle flipped multiple times.

“It’s been awful. It’s the worst thing that I could ever imagine,” Scott Owen said.

Justin Owen was recently promoted at work, engaged and coming off his best racing season winning the Lawrenceburg Championship.

His father said he is devastated after losing his son.

“I wake up, and the next thing you know, you’re just lying on the floor crying,” Scott Owen said.

Racing was part of Justin Owen’s life from a young age. His father said the two raced every weekend since his son was 6.

“It was what he loved,” Scott Owen said. “It was his passion.”

Now, Scott Owen wants people to remember his son for what he did off the track, the way he made people laugh and brightened every room he entered.

According to his father, Justin Owen will also help others in death by being an organ and tissue donor.

“He is helping 80 people,” Scott Owen said.

The Owen family said a funeral for the 26-year-old is scheduled for Thursday at the Spring Grove Cemetery.

“He joked and said, ‘If I die, I want to die in a racecar,’” Scott Owen said. “We were obviously kidding around and never thought it would happen.”

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