Mark Grismore, 61, dies in Farm Accident
Mark A. Grismore, 61, a driver-trainer and the father of one of the sport’s top dash-winning drivers, Greg Grismore, was accidentally killed while working at his farm in Pandora, Ohio on Monday, January 2, 2006.
Mr. Grismore suffered fatal injuries after falling head-first into the mechanized tines of a hopper wagon while attempting to unload sawdust into the lower level of his barn.
Putnam County (Ohio) Sheriff officials said the load of sawdust may have shifted while Mr. Grismore was climbing on its top, and the wagon's rake-like tines - used to pull the sawdust out of the wagon and powered by the auger of an attached utility tractor - pulled him in.
His wife, who was upstairs at the time of the accident, found him at about 2 p.m. in the afternoon at their farm, in Putnam County about a mile northwest of Pandora. Mr. Grismore was pronounced dead at the scene.
Grismore, during the mid-1970s, was a fixture at Northwest Ohio’s tracks, and was at that time among the leaders each year at Toledo Raceway Park. In his career, which spanned parts of five decades, Grismore drove 838 winners who earned more than $1.2 million.
His career was marked by a high percentage of winners and in 1978 he won the North American Universal Driver Rating System title among drivers who made between 200 and 299 starts. His .455 UDR that year was a personal, single-year best, but he recorded UDRs of .400 or more in seven other years between 1978 and 1991.
The funeral was held on Thursday, January 5th at St. John Mennonite Church in Pandora, Ohio.
Chiles & Sons Funeral Home:
(419) 358-2051
"The Little Red Barn" Local
Florist: (419)
358-5066
Please keep the Grismore family in your thoughts and prayers at this difficult time. Cards may be sent to: Grismore Family, 15336 Road 6, Pandora, OH 45877-9709 or Greg Grismore, 9246 Milford Dr., Northfield, OH 44067-1343
Source: USTA Website (with information added)