After graduating from the Buck Baker Driving School, he served as a driving instructor at the school for a year. He would soon reach an agreement with Restore Auto Care Products to sponsor a limited NASCARWinston Cup Series campaign in 1984 and a full-time campaign in 1985,[2] driving a car he co-owned with his girlfriend Barbara Pike.[3]
He made his Winston Cup debut at Rockingham Speedway in 1984, driving his own No. 42 Chevrolet home to a 21st-place finish.[4] The next race, at Atlanta International Raceway, on lap 129, Schoonover was involved in an accident where he hit the outside wall, then slid into the infield and struck a dirt embankment head on at a fairly high speed. The safety crew had to cut the roof of his car and roll it back in order to extricate him from the car, and he was eventually airlifted from the speedway to a local hospital where he died of massive head and internal injuries. His death was the first fatality at the Atlanta track.[1]
Motorsports career results
NASCAR
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)
