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Kelly Hample, one of Montana's all-time winningest Dirt Late Model racers who captured more than 25 track championships over his 40-year career, died March 30 at his Billings, Mont., home after a lengthy battle with metastatic throat cancer. He was 61.

The driver of the No. 36 (pictured) piled up multiple championships at his hometown track as well as dirt ovals in Belgrade and Great Falls, twice scoring single-season sweeps of Late Model titles at all three tracks. He was also the Montana Late Model Tour champion in 2006 and was the tour's winningest driver with six victories during its three-season run.

Hample never raced again after being diagnosed with stage 4 cancer following his title-winning season in 2020 at Big Sky Speedway in Billings, said his sister Becky Hample, the longtime track photographer at the track. Hample's last time on the Billings oval was driving his blue Shelby Mustang as a pace car for a July 9, 2021, Late Model event, she said.

The pair always had a bit of a family reunion in victory lane when after Hample would take one of his many checkered flags, his sister recalled.

"He’d climb out of his car and say ‘Hey Beck’ and he’d just grin," Becky Hample said. "He always remember that I would be right there.”

Hample's career started in street stocks in 1981 before shifting into Late Models along with many seasons in modifieds, including seasons when the Late Model division wasn't active at nearby tracks. Hample won more than 160 races among combined divisions, posting nearly 50 feature victories from 2007-20 alone, according to DirtonDirt.com records.

"It's a real kick to drive Late Models when they're right," Kelly Hample said in a 2007 article in the Billings Gazette. "When they aren't, it's like trying to run a five-mile race when you're out of shape."

Besides his sister, Hample, who took over his father's Hample Excavation business in 1993, is survived by his mother Shirley, life partner Vickie, brothers Tom, Curt and Ted and a son, Ty, who has five career victories in the Late Model division. Ted Hample is also a longtime dirt racer in multiple divisions.

The funeral is at 1 p.m. Saturday, April 6, at Heights Family Funeral Home in Billings. Attendees are welcome to wear racing apparel. The service will be live-streamed at heightsfamilyfuneralhome.com.

Correction: Updates with career victory total estimate and Ted Hample's status as a current racer.