Jimmy Gibbons

2/1/1912 - 9/10/1949

Record updated 09-Oct-21

He started racing before WWII and turned out to be pretty good, racing under the name Jimmy Gibbons, he raced 'big cars' as well as midgets. He was killed in a National Dirt Track Midget Championship race in 1949.

Tobias Miller Gibbon, Jr. was born and raised in Richmond, Virginia, one of six children of Tobias and Lucy Gibbon. He started racing before WWII and turned out to be pretty good, racing under the name Jimmy Gibbons, he raced 'big cars' as well as midgets. However with the onset of the hostilities of the war, his racing was halted. He served in the 310th Infantry and returned to racing in the AAA Eastern Division in 1946. During his short career he had his share of results but ultimately never won a Championship though he came close in 1949. We was leading the AAA Eastern Championship up until July when Spider Webb passed him in the points chase. It had been his best year so far with wins in the Ted Horn Memorial race at the Trenton Fairgrounds and a feature race at Reading. He also finished 2nd at both Lakewood and Williams Grove. Then on the night of 9th October that year at the Hatfield Speedway, he was racing in a 100-lap ARDC National Dirt Track Midget Championship race when, on lap 58th, Gibbons lost control and crashed through the guard rail, rolled and landed on him. He was rushed to hospital with fractured skull and other injuries. He never regained consciousness and passed away later that night. He The Hatfield Speedway held a Jimmy Gibbons Memorial Sweepstakes Race to end its season.

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