Harold Bruce
Jacobi Born: June 23, 1935 Died:
February 4, 1987
Home: Indianapolis, IN
Harold
Bruce Jacobi was a racing driver from Salem, Indiana. He was killed in a NASCAR qualifying race after
coming out of retirement to drive. At the time of his crash, he had a
wife.
Jacobi came to the 1983 Daytona
Speedweeks without a ride but picked one up with a smaller independent
team driving the #05 Pontiac owned by Dennis Taylor by the time of the Twin 125 Qualifiers.
Bruce started 33rd out of 35 cars in the first Twin 125 qualifier. He lost control of his car
on the fifth lap at the exit of Turn 2 and
flipped upon entering the grass infield, eventually coming to a stop
near the inside dirt embankment. The car flipped end over end and it is
speculated that his roll cage failed during the crash.
He competed in twenty Winston
Cup Series events in his career, spanning from 1975 to 1983. Most of
those races came in 1975, when Jacobi finished 25th in points after his
only three career top-tens. Those top-ten efforts were bested by an 8th
at Talladega.
He had 37 USAC Champ Car starts
between 1960 and 1970, with a best finish of fourth at Springfield in
1970.
Subsequent death
Jacobi suffered extensive head
injuries from the crash and was in a coma for almost four years before
passing away at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis.
