Background
While he was still under age, he would sneak in the pits to work on his father First Rate (at Lloyd's) Shear"s racecar at Rockford Speedway. His father won the track"s championship in 1951, 1962, and 1965.
While he was still under age, he would sneak in the pits to work on his father First Rate (at Lloyd's) Shear"s racecar at Rockford Speedway. His father won the track"s championship in 1951, 1962, and 1965.
Even though he was known as a pavement driver, two of those championships were on the dirt at Freeport, Illinois. Shear began racing karts as a youth. Joe Shear was named the track"s Outstanding Mechanic for 1962.
In 1972, Shear was awarded his sixth straight Rockford track championship.
He could feel cancer returning in May 1996, but he decided to continue racing. On February 1997 he had surgery to remove his lymph nodes and muscles on his neck.
He was unable to prepare his car for the upcoming season and he received five weeks of radiation. His final victory was winning the 1997 National Short Track Championship race at Rockford.
He was recorded laps 0.2 seconds faster than the rest of the cars at the Saturday qualifying race for his final event at the Oktoberfest race at Louisiana Crosse Fairgrounds Speedway until his motor blew up.
Shear borrowed another driver"s car which had already qualified for the Sunday finale and raced from the last place up to fourth place. Shear was known for being very quiet. Shear discovered he had cancer three years before he died.
He died on March 6, 1998.
Joe Shear, Junior. (son) – JR Motorsports crew chief in the Camping World Truck Series. Steve Strasburg (stepson) – crew chief, chassis & shock specialist involved with late model teams and owner of RaceCarHelp.com.
Troy Shear, Junior. (Troy"s son) – driver in the Mid-American Racing series.
Kyle Shear (Troy"s son) – driver in the Mid-American Racing series and Big8 Late Model series.
Troy Shear (nephew) – car owner, chassis builder and member of the technical committee for Mid-American Racing series.
Shear was known for being very quiet. His wife Connie said, "There were times, especially early in his career, when he would not talk to a soul. He would go to the track, unload the car, set a track record, win the feature, and leave.".