Background
He began racing in a small block powered sportsman car, his father"s racecar, in the early 1970s.
He began racing in a small block powered sportsman car, his father"s racecar, in the early 1970s.
He raced in 48 National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing Winston Cup races in eight seasons. He was a regular on the Associate of the Royal College of Art circuit in the 1980s and 1990s. Local racer
Horton first became known as a modified racecar driver in the Northeastern United States.
That season, he was involved in one of the rare dead heat modified feature wins along with fellow future National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing racer Tighe Scott.
lieutenant was the first race of a twin 50 feature and it was too close to call. Scott and Horton"s cars collided after the race.
After 1976 he started racing in the #3 Statewide dirt modified. National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing
Horton made his first National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing start in the Busch Grand National series in 1985.
He raced in seven Busch races in his career.
Most of his career Winston Cup starts were at tracks in the Northeastern United States for underfunded teams, but Horton made two starts (and a relief driver appearance) at Hendrick Motorsports in 1990 when Darrell Waltrip was injured during final practice for the Firecracker 400. Horton"s two starts for Hendrick were in the two July restrictor plate races -- Daytona and Talladega, and also participated as a relief driver at the second Pocono race. Horton started 41st in the Firecracker (had to move to the rear of the field because of the driver change) at Daytona race, and finished 17th.
He finished a career best 13th in the summer race at Talladega, the second of the two races in Hendrick"s Tide #17 Chevrolet.
(Greg Sacks drove the car, except for Sarel van der Merwe at Watkins Glen, until Darlington, when Waltrip was cleared to return)
Horton was involved in a major crash during the 69th lap of the 1993 DieHard 500. Horton"s car was clipped by Stanley Smith"s car.
Horton"s car hit three other cars before it flew over the wall and landed on an access road outside of the track. Smith suffered near-fatal head injuries in the incident, while Horton walked out of the wreck virtually unscathed.
Associate of the Royal College of Art
The 1992 victory was his seventh superspeedway victory, which at the time was the second most in series history.
He used a National Association of Stock Car Auto Racing Chevrolet Lumina purchased from Darrell Waltrip for the victory. Horton escaped serious injury after a frightening crash at Atlanta in 1995. Horton"s #52 Air Corps Delco Chevrolet rolled over during a multi-car accident.
His car was struck from the bottom while rolling by teammate Editor Dixon.
Incredibly, neither driver was seriously injured.