CINCINNATI — Justin Owen, a 26-year-old Harrison native and sprint car racing competitor, was laid to rest on Thursday.
Owen died in a Saturday night crash during the USAC AMSOIL Sprint Car National Championship event at the Lawrenceburg Speedway. His funeral was held at Spring Grove Funeral Home on Thursday morning.
After the news of Owen's death, people and companies involved in the sprint car and racing community have shown an outpouring of support.
During the qualifying race, USAC said Owen's car made contact with the outside wall, went airborne and flipped multiple times in turn three of the course.
"USAC expresses its deepest condolences to Justin's family, team and many friends throughout the racing community," USAC said.
According to USAC Racing's Twitter, the race was immediately red flagged — or deemed too dangerous to continue — after the crash around 6:25 p.m.
Shortly after at 6:55 p.m., USAC Racing announced that the National Championship had been canceled.
Owen was the reigning track champion with two feature wins and a title in 2022, according to USAC. Having grown up just 20 minutes from the southeast Indiana track, Owen had been a regular competitor in the 3/8-mile oval. The 2022 crown was his first at the speedway.
The young driver had collected multiple awards in his career, and he collected three in 2019 — the Buckeye Outlaw Sprint Series at Pennslyvania's Lernerville Speedway, once at Indiana's Paragon Speedway and then at Lawrenceburg's Night of Champions event.
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