Per Racing America on SI<\/a>, Printup spent 30 years working in NASCAR, including 15 as the track president at Watkins Glen International Speedway. <\/p>\n\u201cWatkins Glen International is saddened by the passing for former President Michael Printup, who led the facility for 15 years,\u201d Watkins Glen shared on X. \u201cDuring his tenure, Michael played a key role in the continued growth and success of Watkins Glen International, helping to strengthen its operations, partnerships, and standing with the motorsports industry while honoring the venue\u2019s storied history. <\/p>\n
\u201cMichael was a respected leader who left a lasting impact on the organization and those who worked alongside him. We extend our sincere condolences to his family, friends and colleagues.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Racing America account on X called Printup \u201ca true motorsports icon and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHis passing and leadership shaped our sports and will never be forgotten,\u201d the account added.<\/p>\n
Printup is the fifth person with NASCAR ties to die since the start of December, joining former drivers Michael Annett, 39, Nick Joanides, 55, and Greg Biffle, 55 as well as Dennis Hamlin, 75, the father of driver Denny Hamlin.<\/p>\n
Prior to Printup\u2019s passing, Hamlin\u2019s death was the most recent after he was killed in a house fire on Sunday in North Carolina. His wife, Mary Lou Hamlin, 69, has been hospitalized after sustaining burns in the tragedy. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Biffle was killed along with his family and some friends when his plane crashed on Dec. 18 at the Statesville Regional Airport in North Carolina. <\/p>\n
Biffle\u2019s Cessna 550 was reportedly attempting to land at around 10:15 a.m. at the airport just outside of Charlotte when the crash occurred. <\/p>\n
Biffle had a 16-year career behind the wheel in the NASCAR Cup Series, starting 515 races and winning 19. He had 175 top ten finishes. <\/p>\n
His last race with the series came in the 2022 Geico 500 in Talladega. <\/p>\n
Biffle also drove 244 races on the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series. He won 20 of those and logged 149 more top 10 finishes. He also was behind the wheel for 83 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races, winning 17 of those with 55 top 10 finishes. <\/p>\n
His death followed the passing of Nick Joanides on Dec. 5 and Michael Annett on Dec. 2.<\/p>\n
Joanides, 55, was a star on the West Coast scene most recently making three starts in the ARCA West Series. He also drove in the NASCAR Xfinity Series when it was called the Nationwide Series. <\/p>\n
Annett, 39, drove for JR Motorsports from 2017 through 2021 and the team shared the news of his death on social media.<\/p>\n
A native of Des Moines, Iowa, Annett was behind the wheel for 106 NASCAR Cup Series races, but never managed to finish in the top 10. While his results at that level were not eye-popping, Yahoo Sports noted he drove for a pair of \u201cunderfunded teams\u201d in Tommy Baldwin Racing and HScott Racing.<\/p>\n
Annett had more success on the Xfinity Series where he drove in 321 races with 95 top-10 finishes. His lone win came in the 2019 NASCAR Racing Experience 300 at Daytona International Speedway.<\/p>\n
He also drove in nine NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races with two top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n
ARCA posted a statement on X<\/a> about both the deaths of Joanides and Annett that read, \u201cWe extend our deepest condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of ARCA Menards Series driver Michael Annett and ARCA Menards Series West driver Nick Joanides, both of whom passed away recently.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NASCAR world has been hit by tragedy once again with the news that Racing America Chief Operating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":383376,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,634,82],"class_list":["post-383375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nascar","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=383375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/383375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383376"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=383375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=383375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=383375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}