Eddie West

Gutted to learn that Supermodified hero Eddie West has passed. Chatting with Westy at the annual New England Auto Racers (NEAR) Hall of Fame dinners always made that great day even better. Naturally, he was an inductee, part of the NEAR HoF Class of 1999. Some called him “the Golden Bear,” but his coolest nickname was “Goin’ West,” and if he was on the track he was generally goin’ toward the front. Eddie is second on the New England Supermodified Racing Association (NESMRA) all-time win list, with 106 victories from northern New England to Vero Beach, Florida. He was also a six-time track champion at New Hampshire’s Star Speedway, where he won New England’s biggest Supermodified race, the Star Classic, three times. Before Star Speedway existed, Eddie won the Can-Am Classic at nearby Lee Raceway. One last thing: for much of his adult life, Westy suffered from brutal arthritis. There are stories of him popping aspirin as if they were M&M’s just to dull the pain enough to climb in and out of his race car. So anytime you start trying to define what the word “tough” means, consider Eddie West racing in pain, winning in pain, and walking through life in pain, masking it all with grace and a smile. Thinking today of his family, his wide circle of friends, and the entire Supermodified community. There goes a legend. — Bones
  written by... Mark Bourcier

Eddie West won more New England Super Modified championships than any other driver. He was one of the club’s original members, joining after winning the URDC championship twice. One of the last of the original NESMRA personalities, he died on April 16, 2020.

His NESMRA record is spectacular. West won in every NESMRA division except rookies, earned 107 feature wins (second only to Ollie Silva), was a six-time NESMRA champion (most of all drivers) and the winner of three Star Speedway Classics.

He was an honoree at the North East Motor Sports Legends Day in 2019. In 1999, he became one of the earliest drivers to be inducted in the New England Racing Hall of Fame.
West was in pain much of his life, the result of extreme arthritis. In his final years, West’s fingers were nearly non-functional with every joint swollen to twice its normal size. Through the pain, he always managed a smile and good conversation.

Somehow, the stiffness caused by his arthritis didn’t prevent West from racing well and winning. He was never flashy and only rarely spectacular. But when the race neared its end, West was almost always in position to win it.

He starred in the most famous of all NESMRA races, an Icebreaker event at Thompson. Ollie Silva and Don MacLaren, for years bitter rivals, were the stars of the event, racing each other with ferocity. They went down the backstretch side-by-side, then into the third turn, each of them driving too hard. Their cars spun simultaneously with neither car touching the other. West had been third and as he passed for the win, he waved to the two would-be winners in the infield. It was his first race in a brand-new roadster. In his later years, you could find West in the infield sitting in his car enjoying the races at Star and Thompson.
  from The North East Motor Sports Museum