Hornaday loses battle with cancer at 77 years of age

Ron Hornaday Sr., a two-time NASCAR West Coast champion and patriarch of the West Coast racing Hornaday family, died Sunday of cancer in his native California. He was 77.

His son, Ron Hornaday Jr., has won three Camping World Truck Series titles, and grandson Ronnie continued the family tradition in 1999, making his NASCAR debut at the age of 19.

Ron Hornaday

"Our father was the inspiration to all of us and was a true champion to the very end," Hornaday Jr. said in a statement posted on his Web site. "We will miss him so very much but it is a comfort to know that he is now with his beloved wife and our mother, Helen, where he wanted to be."

Helen Hornaday died in 2001.

Hornaday was born Jan. 13, 1931, in San Fernando. He began racing at Saugus Speedway and Ascot Park in Southern California in the 1950s. Hornaday's weekday job was as parts and service manager at Galpin Ford in North Hills. And dealership owner Frank Galpin sponsored Hornaday's Fords for much of his racing career.

Hornaday's Cup debut came at the Arizona State Fairgrounds in May of 1955, finishing 14th in a field of 29 cars, earning him a $25 paycheck. He would make sporadic starts the next two decades, mainly when NASCAR's premier series made its annual trip west.

His best Cup finish came in 1960 at the California State Fairgrounds dirt mile in Sacramento, when he started second and finished fourth. He recorded a fifth at Ascot Park one year later. His final Cup start came at Riverside in 1973.

Hornaday found great success in NASCAR's Pacific Coast stock-car circuit, where he finished second in 1962, then won back-to-back titles the next two seasons.

"Ron Sr. was a great champion and one of the true pioneers in NASCAR's west coast efforts," said Jim Hunter, NASCAR vice president of corporate communications. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family."