An hour before Justin Owen’s car flew into the air, its engine making a strange noise that sounded like a deafening scream, before silence fell over Lawrenceburg Speedway, Ryan Barr had one last conversation with his teammate speed car
Owen was smiling, laughing and telling his blush-inducing jokes throughout the 30-minute drivers’ meeting. Barr felt lucky to be by his side. Owen was the guy at the racetrack that everyone wanted to talk to. He was the kind of guy who would give the shirt off his back, or in Owen’s case, the radiator of his car, to help out a competitor. In fact, he did once.
But on the night of April 8 before the USAC AMSOIL National Speedway Championship event, Barr would hear his last joke from Owen. It would be one last look at how excited d’Owen was to take to the track for his first race of the 2023 season.
Barr listened as Owen told him Saturday how he hoped to repeat his Lawrenceburg Speedway title in 2023 at the track where he was known as something of a king. The track was Owen’s home turf, just 15 miles from Harrison, Ohio, where he grew up.
Owen was in Lawrenceburg the whole time. It welcomed new drivers, making them feel less intimidated and more confident. He showed the fans. And he raced sprint cars with abandon.
Owen would not be able to see the first race of 2023 at Lawrenceburg Speedway. He fell in his qualifying race. His fellow drivers would not see this race either. After Owen’s accident, USAC canceled the race, the drivers turned in their transponders, and the racing community mourned.
It’s devastating to think back now, Barr said, how happy Owen was before that race. He had camped the night before with his racing partner and best friend, Michael Fischesser, and the two went to a nearby casino. Owen spent $20 and lost $20, but told Barr he had a great time anyway.
Owen was looking forward to a few Michelob Ultras or maybe Natural Lights, his favorite beers, after the race to celebrate his season debut. He had no idea, when he got into his car with Fischesser-Owen Racing, he would never get out again.
Barr didn’t see the first few seconds of the crash, but as he worked on his car, he heard the screech of the engine, turned onto the track and saw Owen’s car in the air. “It sounded like its engine was screeching and black soot seemed to be blowing everywhere.”
Then came the gloomy silence. “We didn’t know the severity, but we knew something was wrong,” Barr said. “You don’t hear a crash like that and not think it’s bad. It feels like a punch in the pond.”
One of Owen’s best friends came running into the trailer. He was shouting. “Oh no, oh no. This is not good.” Barr looked at him and pleaded, “Please tell me he got out of the car.”
Owen was out of the car, but not alone. First responders cut through the cages to get there. Sirens wailed as EMTs performed CPR. People started crying.
“At the time, we all knew, but we all didn’t want to know,” Barr, 21, said. “Then that’s when it all became very sobering. You were in a moment of disbelief.”
Until it all got very real. Barr watched as Owen’s car backed into the trailer parked next to his, a wrecked machine. “I think almost every person on every team turned their heads because we didn’t want to see it,” Barr said, “because we knew what it meant.”
It meant USAC would cancel the race. It meant that the close-knit drag racing community would begin to mourn a 26-year-old driver who was their dear, fearless, larger-than-life friend.
“I could say that…it wasn’t good”
Tyler Kendall had just finished his good laps Saturday evening at Lincoln Park Speedway in Putnamville, 140 miles northwest of Lawrenceburg. He was walking around the court trying to find the lineup when a guy from another team called out to him, “Hey, have you heard about Justin?”
Kendall had no idea what that guy was talking about. He and Owen had been friends since they were teenagers when they got jobs as snowboard instructors at Perfect North Slopes in Lawrenceburg. One day on a ski lift together during a break, Kendall asked Owen what he did for fun. Owen told her that he loved racing speed cars. Kendall’s family also raced dragsters. That was it.
The two started going out on weekends. They looked at each other and encouraged each other as each became more skilled and faster on the court. Kendall says Owen was happier than when Kendall won his first race.
“What do you mean? What’s wrong with Justin?” Kendall asked Saturday night. “And he said, ‘I don’t know, but you might want to try to find out something. I think USAC canceled the race.'”
Kendall was panicking. He immediately texted Fischesser’s wife. “I said, ‘Please call me.’ And he called me right away and I could tell by the sounds, the way he was acting, that he wasn’t good.”
Owen was in the middle of his qualifying race when he drifted high in Turn 3, lost control and crashed into the wall. His car went airborne, spun several times before coming to rest in the middle of the track. USAC immediately flagged the event shortly before 18.30 and, 30 minutes later, the series was cancelled the event
USAC announced Owen’s death just after midnight on April 9, when he should have been drinking Michelob Ultras and Natty Lights, celebrating his first race of the season. Instead, his fellow drivers are left trying to cope, trying to find peace.
In the days since Owen died, Kendall has been thinking a lot about their years together. How he and Owen had grown together in their racing careers. How would they park side by side in Lawrenceburg. How everyone laughed as he waved to his car companions and said, “Hi hottie.”
“He was very outgoing and funny. He was kind of the joker of the group wherever he went,” Kendall said. “He was always making fun of us, making jokes, chasing us.”
But mostly, in the days since that horrific accident, Kendall has been thinking about a race earlier last season when Owen did something he’ll never forget.
“Proof of Who Justin Was”
During the hot laps of a race in the spring of 2022, Owen’s engine blew. As Kendall was coming into the pits, Owen heard the Kendall Racing team talking about a rock lodged in the radiator and how if Kendall ran it would destroy it. But Kendall didn’t have another radiator.
“Without even asking, I looked up and he’s taking his car apart and he’s taking his radiator off to put it on my car,” Kendall said. “I wouldn’t take no for an answer. We ended up running and (placing) second that night in Lawrenceburg.
“That was a testament to who Justin was.”
Owen loved life, loved making people happy, and if he couldn’t race, he wanted others, even his competitors, to have the chance. Sport was in his blood.
He was six years old when he convinced his father to make him his first cart. “Justin wasn’t afraid,” Kendall said. “He did it pretty quickly.” When he was 15, Owen was racing cars.
Isaac Chapple was working in a shop that sold racing car parts when Owen walked in years ago. The two shared their love of sprint cars and became friends. Owen came into this shop all the time during his early racing years. Chapple said he didn’t have a big team behind him, but would raise his own money to buy what he needed.
Chapple said Owen was always smiling. Always. Except when he got serious about racing. “He meant it when he got in the car,” said Chapple, who drives for Isaac Chapple Racing.
Barr said racing will never be the same without Owen, whose death leaves a huge void at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
“He packed a lot into 26 years of life,” Barr said. “He made a lot of people happy. He didn’t take himself too seriously. He was just ME and people loved ME”
Remembering Justin Owen
Owen is survived by his parents, Marita (Mike) Cable, Scott (Niki) Owen, his fiancé, Kenzie Knapp, and his sister Alyssa (Eric) Stone, brother Josh Creech, and half-sister Ryleigh Dennis. He is also survived by his grandmother, Shirley Standley, and grandfather, Mike Marqua.
“His life was his family, friends and his golden doodles, Louie and Lacie,” Owen’s obituary reads. “He also played baseball, football, soccer, basketball, snowboarding and lacrosse. Justin graduated in 2014 from Harrison High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree in operations management from the University of Cincinnati in 2018. Justin was looking forward to the next chapter in his life where he married the love of his life, Kenzie Knapp.”
Visitation for Owen is 9:30 a.m. Thursday at Spring Grove Funeral Homes, 4389 Spring Grove Ave., Cincinnati. Services will follow at 11 a.m. with a reception from 12 to 2 p.m. at the funeral home.
In Justin’s honor, donations may be made to Driven to Save Lives: The Bryan Clauson Legacy Fund.
Follow IndyStar sports reporter Dana Benbow on Twitter: @DanaBenbow. Contact her by email: dbenbow@indystar.com.
