Carol Dean Roper was an American stock car driver from Fair Grove, Missouri.
17 Facts About Dean Roper
1.
2.
Dean Roper competed part time in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series and ARCA Racing Series.
3.
Dean Roper was the father of NASCAR driver Tony Roper.
4.
Dean Roper was an accomplished dirt late model racer in the Midwest.
5.
Dean Roper won five St Louis area track titles from 1967 to 1973.
6.
Dean Roper won the USAC Stock Car Championship three consecutive years, 1981,82 and 83.
7.
Dean Roper won 10 races in USAC, including four on the Springfield Mile.
8.
Dean Roper made his NASCAR debut at the 1983 Daytona 500, driving for Mueller Brother's Racing.
9.
Dean Roper started 27th in the Evinrude Outboard Motors Pontiac, and was able to avoid problems to come home 15th, six laps down.
10.
Dean Roper would run one other race that season at Talladega, starting 30th and finishing 18th at the Winston 500.
11.
Dean Roper would run three races in 1984, running for the Mueller Brother's Racing team.
12.
Dean Roper would run the first Talladega race, where oil pump problems left him 28th, and the Firecracker 400, finishing 21st.
13.
Dean Roper made 37 starts in the series, most of which came at two tracks, Springfield and DuQuoin.
14.
Dean Roper won in his series debut at the Terre Haute Action Track, the only time ARCA raced at the track.
15.
Dean Roper would remain winless in ARCA until 1994, collecting what would be his final victory.
16.
Dean Roper was pulled from the car and rushed to the hospital.
17.
Dean Roper died less than one year after his son Tony was killed in a Truck Series Race at Texas Motor Speedway.