January 5, 2010
By Allen Madding
Native Kansas racer, Christian David “Jim” Roper was born August 13, 1916. Roper grew up on his grandfather’s horse farm in Halstead, Kansas. Roper’s main interest during high school was playing basketball. His grandfather purchased a Chevrolet/Pontiac dealership and gave him a 1930 Chevrolet. Suddenly, Roper’s interest in basketball fell to the wayside and racing that 1930 Chevrolet took center stage in his life.
"I raced that thing seven nights a week, even in the middle of winter, on a figure-eight dirt track, the kind you pass in the middle both ways. I could get that Chevy up to speeds of 60 to 70 miles per hour", Roper would later say in an interview for the publication, 50 Years of Speed.
In the post World War II 1940’s, Roper began racing a midget car in the Midwest eventually moving to roadsters and stock cars at Wichita's Cejay Stadium and Newton's Jayhawk Speedway. In 1947, Roper won the the Beacon Championship at CeJay Speedway in Wichita, Kansas driving a track roadster.
Roper entered the first NASCAR Strictly Stock event in 1949 at the ¾-mile dirt Charlotte Speedway driving R. B. McIntosh’s No. 34 Mecklenburg Motors Lincoln. He qualified 12th and won the event after the car of Glenn Dunnaway was disqualified for having a car that was modified. For his accomplishment, Roper was awarded the event’s $2,000 purse. Roper competed again in the 200-lap event on the 1-mile dirt Occoneechee Speedway at Hillsboro, North Carolina finishing 15th.
Roper would not return to NASCAR competition after 1949, but continued to race stock cars and midget cars around the state of Kansas including Jayhawk Amuesment Park Speedway in Newton, Kansas until 1955 after suffering a broken vertebra in a crash while competing in a Sprint Car race in Davenport, Iowa.
Roper served as the flagman and official starter at Cowley County Fairgrounds Racetrack at Winfield, Kansas in 1957 and continued to build race cars for several years after retiring from driving.
Roper passed away at Newton, Kansas on June 23, 2000 from liver and heart failure related to a long battle with cancer. Roper is buried in the Halstead Cemetery in his hometown of Halstead, Kansas.
Jim Roper was inducted into the High Banks Hall of Fame at Belleville, Kansas in 1999. The 1999 NASCAR Winston Cup Series NAPA 500 trophy was named in his honor.
Jim Roper’s son Dean Roper died August 19, 2001 from a heart attack while competing in the ARCA Series Allen Crowe Memorial at the Springfield Mile at Springfield, Illinois subsequently crashing at the exit of pit lane. Dean Roper had recorded nine ARCA series wins and had three consecutive USAC Stock championships, 1981, 1982, and 1983.
Jim Roper’s grandson Tony Roper raced IMCA Modifieds and Late Models, American Speed Associations Stock Cars before moving to competing in NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and NASCAR Busch Series. Tony Roper died October 13, 2000 from injuries sustained in a crash during the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series O’Reilly 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.
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