KOKOMO – Nearly three weeks after his death, racing star Bryan Clauson’s legacy continues to grow. That comes as no surprise to those who knew the Noblesville driver, who died in a Nebraska hospital on Aug. 7 from injuries suffered the night before in a crash at the Belleville Midget Nationals in Kansas. The 27-year-old Clauson, viewed by many as the best dirt-track driver in the country, had just taken the lead in the event he won three times before. Contact with a slower car and the wall sent Clauson’s No. 63 machine into a series of violent flips. When his car landed on its wheels, it was hit by a car driven by Ryan Greth. Speaking at a Celebration of Life Ceremony for his son Wednesday at Kokomo Speedway, Tim Clauson said what kept his family going that weekend, and what keeps them strong today, is that Bryan Clauson had registered as an organ donor. The Nebraska Organ Recovery System has reported that Bryan Clauson’s organs saved five lives. Think about that for a second ... Because Bryan Clauson took the briefest amount of time to register as an organ donor, and it was indicated on his driver’s license, five lives were saved. Five people who needed transplants will spend another day – and hopefully many more days – with their respective family. So on Wednesday afternoon at his son’s favorite track, in front of a near-capacity crowd – a crowd of Bryan Clauson’s family, friends and fans that soldiered through a heavy rain and two nearby tornados – Tim Clauson spoke with strength. As did Lauren Stewart, Bryan Clauson’s fiance. They spoke of Bryan’s love for people, and how he went through life in such a humble way for a person who was already near the mountain top of his profession. At the age of 27, Bryan Clauson had already racked up 112 United States Auto Club victories and four national championships. Over the past three seasons, he averaged more than 20 wins per season. At that rate, he would’ve been USAC’s all-time wins leader by his 30th birthday, surpassing the legendary AJ Foyt. He’s sat on the pole in a stock car at Daytona International Speedway. He was in the 33-car field for the Indianapolis 500 in three of the past four years, including this past May, as he led the 100th lap of the 100th running of the event. And because Bryan Clauson was a racer in every way, driving anything with wheels, he drove to Kokomo Speedway after the Indy 500 and strapped into his sprint car ... and won. Or, as Bryan Clauson was fond of saying after one of his many wins, he “parked it.” In the crowd at Wednesday’s Celebration of Life were open wheel-turned NASCAR drivers Kyle Larson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Danica Patrick, Christopher Bell and Kenny Wallace ... all of whom were there to honor Bryan Clauson the man more than the driver. There was also a large number of sprint car drivers in attendance, who strapped into their machines Thursday night and who will do so again tonight and Saturday as part of the fifth annual Sprint Car Smackdown. Some of Bryan Clauson’s various car owners spoke, pointing out his long list of accomplishments, but mainly talking about the way he carried himself as a truly caring human being. Motorsports media great Robin Miller spoke. A representative of the trauma center where Bryan Clauson was airlifted to spoke, pointing out his admiration for how strong Clauson’s family and fiance were three weeks ago in such a sad time. A representative of the Autism Society of America spoke, pointing out the great work Bryan Clauson and his fiance did for the organization. Bryan Clauson was scheduled to drive in 200 races this season ... a national tour he had named “Chasing 200, The Circular Insanity Tour.” Bryan Clauson’s final race was his 116th of the year. In honor of his organ donorship, and to raise awareness of the need for more organ donors, Stewart and the Clauson family started another Chasing 200 of sorts, calling it the Bryan Clauson Race To Save Lives. Through social media, they encouraged people to go to www.registerme.org/campaign/BryanClauson and sign up to be an organ donor. The original goal was 200 new registered donors. By the time the Celebration of Life started Wednesday, there were more than 750. As of noon Thursday, there were well over 2,000 – making it the most successful campaign on record for new donors. That, in my opinion, is Bryan Clauson’s greatest victory. And because of it, all the shirts and hats at Kokomo Speedway Wednesday, and all the hashtags on social media, that said BC Forever, well those words couldn’t be more true.
