| 250px | |
| Nationality |  American
|
| Born | 4 July 1940 |
| New York City, New York, United States | |
| Died | 23 June 2018 |
| Westerly, Rhode Island, United States | |
| Cause of Death | Heart failure |
| World Stock Car Championship | |
|---|---|
| races run over season(s). | |
| Rookie Season | 1960 |
| Team(s) | Stafford Race Engineering |
| Championships | |
| Pole Positions | |
| Wins | |
| WSCC Canon Driver | |
Charles Patrick "Charlie" Stafford (4 July 1940 - 23 June 2018) was an American stock car driver who raced in the World Stock Car Championship from 1960 until injuries from a crash during practice at Indianapolis Motor Speedway forced him to retire in 1988; he, like the majority of his family, ran briefly in the American Stock Car Tour. He also ran in Trans-Am, drag racing, Champ Car, and raced prominently at local short tracks. He was the son of prominent pioneering stock car driver Peter Stafford; his brother, Logan, was also a prominent driver, as were his two late sons, Danny and Alan.
Early Life[edit | edit source]
Racing Career[edit | edit source]
Indianapolis Crash and Tragedies[edit | edit source]
On August 20, 1988, Stafford was taking part in the first practice session for the Round of Indianapolis when he crashed head-on into the barrier at the exit of the first corner. His car was t-boned in the driver's side door by Rodolfo Benedetti, nearly killing both Benedetti and Stafford. Both drivers survived, though Stafford was initially declared dead when he arrived at a local hospital before medical assistance brought him back to life. He remained in a vegetative state for a month, before entering a rehab program. His injuries forced his retirement from motorsports effective immediately. Stafford revealed in 1998 that he had lingering memory issues from the crash, to the point that much of his career was "little more than a fuzzy blur".
On May 19, 1989, Stafford's middle son, Alan, died in a private plane crash en route to a WSCL race at Phoenix International Raceway.
In 1990, his eldest son, Danny died in a testing crash at Daytona International Speedway.
In 1993, his father, Peter died after battling pancreatic cancer.
In the years after these tragedies, he and his wife, Jean, divorced. The couple remained civil, but rarely spoke in the twenty-five years between their children's deaths and her death from kidney cancer in 2015. His oldest surviving son, Patrick, believes "they just reminded each other too much of what they lost when my brothers died. Danny looked so much like Dad, and Alan was so close to mom, that it was just too much for their marriage."
Personal Life[edit | edit source]
Stafford married Jean Belmont on February 15, 1963. The pair had four sons: Danny (29 March 1966 - 21 March 1990), Alan (28 April 1969 - 19 May 1989), Patrick (25 September 1972), and Charles Junior (19 October 1973). They divorced in 1995 following the deaths of Alan and Danny.
Following the deaths of two of his sons, his father, and the end of his marriage after nearly thirty years, Stafford largely withdrew from public life. He made sporadic public appearances and rarely gave interviews; in his last interview, filmed two months before his death, Stafford stated that "racing has taken so much from me, I have no desire to give any more of myself to it."
Death[edit | edit source]
Stafford died at his home in Westerly, Rhode Island on June 23, 2018. He had been suffering from heart failure at the time of his death.