DeWayne L. Lund, 33, race driver, helped to rescue Marvin E. Panch from burning, Daytona Beach, Florida, February 14, 1963. At Daytona International Speedway a racing car Panch, 36, race driver, was testing went out of control while traveling at a very high speed and struck the guardrail. It then rolled down the banked track and overturned before stopping in the grassy infield. The vehicle’s three fuel tanks behind and under the cockpit contained approximately 30 gallons of fuel. Panch, who had escaped serious injury, released his seat belt and dropped to the curved roof of the cockpit. At the side of the car where flames had broken out, he tried without success to force open the door which was slightly ajar. Gusts of flames one to two feet long appeared inside the cockpit. Gahan, 36, race driver, William R. Wimble, and then Jerry A. Raborn reached the car and together attempted unsuccessfully to lift it at the side where Panch was endeavoring to open the door. Flames issuing from beneath the car increased in size, igniting Panch’s coveralls. Other persons arrived. While Stephen E. Petrasek and the speedway steward assisted the other men in raising the side of the vehicle, DeWayne L. Lund began discharging the contents of a fire extinguisher into the cockpit through the slight opening of the door. An outburst of flames then shot upward and drove the men back, some of them sustaining burns. Flames rose five to six feet in gusts from the under- side of the car, and others burned over the entire uppermost side. Heat was intense. Noting Panch still trying to open the door, the men ran back to their former positions at the car amid the gusts of flames. The others regained their holds on the car, which was hot, while Lund sprayed foam from the extinguisher before helping to lift the car. When the men raised the side of the car 18 inches, Panch pushed the door farther open and thrust his feet outside. Lund and Petrasek then drew Panch from the car. The flames on his attire soon were extinguished, although he suffered extensive burns. The men released their holds on the car and had moved back 10 feet when an explosion completely enveloped the vehicle in flames rising as much as 15 feet above it. Firemen put out the flames with the help of others. Panch was confined to a hospital for three months and recovered.
46395-4693Obituary
Veteran driver DeWayne “Tiny” Lund, 46, a native of Harlan, Iowa, died on Aug. 17, 1975, during a six-car accident at the Talladega 500 Grand National stock car race.
Lund, of Cross, S.C., started his racing career in Harlan in 1948 by driving motorcycles as a sophomore at Harlan High School. He was born in Harlan on Nov. 14, 1929, the son of Hazel McCuen Lund and Chris Lund.
Dale Swanson of Harlan, who built cars for the veteran driver in his early years, said “Tiny was the kind of guy who would give his last dime if you needed it. But he’d expect you to do the same for him if you were a true friend.”
It was the tragic end to a racing career that began on an auspicious note as a 17-year-old and a high school student, when he “borrowed” his father’s car and sneaked into a race at the Shelby County Speedway at Harlan. His father didn’t even know he was entered in the race until Lund crashed the car through the fence. Not until then did Lund’s dad recognize his car.
Lund appeared at the Shelby County Speedway on Aug. 23, 1974, and drove a 1974 Camaro. A spin-out in the heat race and an overheated engine in the main feature prevented Lund from finishing. Two days later, he appeared at Sunset Speedway, where he was involved in a minor wreck and also failed to finish the race.
His best year was 1963, when he won the Daytona 500 and finished in the top 10 in 12 of his 22 races. He collected $40,930 that year alone. The tragic mishap at Talladega began when Lund’s car touched the rear quarter-panel of J.D. McDuffie’s car as they came out of turn two. Terry Link, in another car involved in the accident, bounced his car off the wall and hit Lund’s vehicle broadside. Lund was still alive when he was pulled from the car but died less that 10 minutes after reaching the infield hospital.
(Edited from an obituary in the Harlan Tribune, Aug. 21, 1975.)