Injury and End of Racing Career
He continued racing in midgets in Kansas until he broke a vertebra in a sprint car accident in Davenport, Iowa in 1955. He decided to retire after his injuries healed. "It was over for me then," he said, "so I flipped a half-dollar (coin) to decide whether to raise horses in Texas or Washington. Texas won." He later became a professional flagman and built racecars. He died on June 23, 2000 from heart and liver complications related to cancer.
Read more about this topic: Jim Roper
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