Career
He quickly earned popularity for driving demolition derby cars, and appeared on American Broadcasting Company"s Wide World of Sports. He competed in more than 100 Sportsman Carolina Series races on the East Coast. On February 22, 1969 MacTavish made his debut at the Daytona International Speedway, driving the #5 1966 Mercury Comet in the Permatex 300 Sportsman (now Nationwide series) race.
On lap nine of the race, his vehicle tangled with a car driven by Bob James.
Out of control, MacTavish"s car hit the outside crash wall at a point where a metal guard rail covered an opening in the wall. The impact with the butt end of the concrete sheared off the whole front of the car, up to the firewall.
Its engine was thrown 100 feet from the wreck. The Mercury then spun around and wound up facing oncoming cars in the middle of the track surface, with MacTavish completely exposed in the driver"s seat.
lieutenant was then struck by Sam Sommers, who was unsighted by smoke and flying debris from the accident.
This second impact severed MacTavish"s legs completely off and sent his car bouncing into the grass on the inside of the track. MacTavish was pronounced dead at the spot of the accident. Three months after his death, the first annual 100-lap "Don MacTavish Memorial Race" was organized at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.
Each year, the American Canadian Tour racing series awards one driver with the prestigious MacTavish Award at their annual year-end Banquet of Champions.
The award is given for outstanding contribution in the field of stock car racing and named in honor of MacTavish for his contributions to New England racing. Past recipients of the award have included Bill France, Senior
(1969) and Ken Squier (1972). In 2001, MacTavish was posthumously inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame.