Veteran racer Shawn McCoy had hoped to reach 1,000 career starts. Unfortunately, his mark ended at 898. He died while competing in the October 18 pro stock feature at Marysville Raceway.
McCoy (pictured with his wife, Becky) loved to race. He made 870 consecutive starts until that streak ended in 2022 after a motorcycle crash. Fellow competitor Mike Learn said McCoy hoped to reach 900 this year.
“He was the racer everyone wanted to be,” Learn, of Petaluma, California, said.
Learn had just passed McCoy four laps before McCoy’s crash. The right-front of McCoy’s car dug into the track surface in turn three. It then proceeded to roll before landing on its roof.
“When the red flag came out, another racer told me Shawn was unconscious,” said Learn. “We got out and ran to his car. We stood there feeling helpless.”
McCoy was 64 years old. Learn remembered his kind-hearted nature, especially toward animals. McCoy had several pet possums over the years, and they’d accompany him while he worked in his race shop.
“He built a cast for a crow with a broken leg, using popsicle sticks and wire,” Learn said. “When the bird healed, he released it into the wild. He would care for chickens with swollen legs. He would do surgery on them and use peroxide to prevent infections. When you called his shop, all you heard was roosters crowing and chickens clucking.”
Likewise, racer Michelle Byron described her uncle as a gentle and caring person.
“He was always there for me, no matter the time of day or night,” said Byron. “When I got into a crash at Petaluma, my dad started yelling at me. Uncle Shawn walked over and put his hands over my ears. He felt that anger would not teach anything to a young racer.”
Shawn McCoy won his first race in 1981, at Petaluma Speedway. That year he won the hobby stock championship and later added a street stock title in 1987.
“He was my protector, my mentor,” Byron said. “I’m upset, I’m sad, and yet I’m mad at him for not wearing a head-and-neck restraint. He was very stubborn. He said his wish was to die in a race car, and he did get his wish.”
Mike Adaskaveg has written hundreds of stories since the website’s inception. This year marks his 54th year of covering auto racing. Adaskaveg got his start working for track photographer Lloyd Burnham at Connecticut’s Stafford Motor Speedway in 1970. Since then, he’s been a columnist, writer, and photographer, in racing and in mainstream media, for several outlets, including the Journal Inquirer, Boston Herald, Stock Car Racing, and Speedway Illustrated. Among Adaskaveg’s many awards are the 1992 Eastern Motorsport Press Association (EMPA) Ace Lane Photographer of the Year and the 2019 National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) George Cunningham Writer of the Year.
