Former Dixie champ dies in accident
A former Dixie Speedway Late Model champion died Thursday after being struck by a vehicle while working as a tow-truck driver on Interstate 575 in Cherokee County, Ga.
Frank Ingram's name wasn’t released by Woodstock Police, according to reports by several media outlets, but fellow wrecker services named the former Woodstock, Ga., driver as the victim of the early afternoon accident in the southbound lanes of the suburban Atlanta loop. The 48-year-old's passing was also reported by the racetrack where Ingram was the 1992 Super Late Model Rookie of the Year and the 2010 division champion.
The Ingram name was a fixture at Dixie Speedway, where Frank’s late father Bill Ingram captured the inaugural Dixie Shootout in 1990. After the elder Ingram died of cancer, the track for several seasons ran the Bill Ingram Memorial, a race his son won in 2009, earning $5,000.
Frank Ingram’s other major victories include a 2004 Southern All Star Dirt Racing Series victory at Dixie, the same year he opened the season with an Ice Bowl triumph in the Super Late Model division at Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, Ala. His first major victory came in 1994's Gobbler at Cleveland (Tenn.) Speedway on the SAS circuit.
His most recent Super Late Model victory came on May 13, 2017, at Dixie, which hasn’t operated since 2021. Ingram's last top-five finish came in March 2021 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.