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John Blewett III
Sport: Auto Racing
Born: October 25, 1973
Died: August 16, 2007
Town: Howell, New Jersey
John Richard Blewett III was born October 25, 1973 in Howell. As a boy, he and younger brother Jimmy were fascinated by racing and attended many events at Wall and new Egypt with their dad, who also raced, retiring in 1993. John began racing go-karts in 1984 and at the age of 19 was named 1992 Rookie of the Year in the Sportsman division.
In 1995, John moved up to the Modified division and would go on to win 10 races at this level. In 2004, Jimmy began racing Modifieds and they often found themselves jockeying for position at the front of the pack. They dominated at Wall, with John Taking the year-end Turkey Derby in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005. In 2006, he was the winningest pavement driver in the Northeast.
In the summer of 2007, the Blewett brothers entered the New England Dodge Dealers 150 at Thompson International Speedway. They were dueling for the lead when a caution flag halted the action on the 106th lap. On the restart, Jimmy lost control of his car and it ended up on top of John’s, with the rear bumper slicing through John’s helmet. Jimmy jumped from his car and began waving frantically for medics to attend to his brother. He died a short time later.
A special memorial was held for John at Wall Stadium in August. In 2007, the North-South Shootout in Asheboro, NC was renamed the John Blewett III Memorial North-South Shootout.At the end of the season, his #76 was retired by the track, with the option for Jimmy to use it if he wished. In 2011, Jimmy won the Turkey Derby driving the #76 car.
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