Leighton Irwin (Threads merged)

[Chris Townsend]

I learned last night from a friend in Canada that Leighton Irwin, a regular contributor to the chassis history archive on this forum, died last week from kidney failure. He was 72.

Leighton had been involved in Canadian racing since his teens, when he became a marshal at Mosport. He then drove first an MGB and later an Elva sports racer with success. In the late 60s he became Bruce Jensen's mechanic, crewing his FB and Atlantic cars - and it was in his memories of that period that Leighton made his most important contributions to this forum. He worked with Bruce Jensen for the best part of a decade, touring North America every year. When he left the series, Leighton met and then married Judy, who raced with him in Honda prod saloons and then F4.

RIP Leighton and thank you for all your contributions here, and my condolences to Judy and Leighton's family and friends


Chris

[Mike_Wooshy]

RIP Leighton Irwin. My condolences to Leightons family and friends.

[John Turner]

Chris, thanks for posting this. It's very sad news.

RIP, Leighton

(Will eventually move this to Tributes, but will leave here for now, for Chassis Archivists to post on).

[Alan Raine]

Sad to hear this news. I always enjoyed Leighton's post. Some great stories of his racing experiences and life in Canada.

My condolences to his family and friends. He will be missed.

[mountainstar]

Very sad news, he had a great spirit and always added a lot to the forums over the years with lots of informative stories and opinions.

[icemachine]

Sad news as one of Ten-Tenths poster has passed away

More sad news

Leighton Irwin, a true original of early Ontario post-war road racing, died in Orillia this past week of kidney failure.

He started in racing as a corner marshal at Mosport, then became a club racer, did some rallying and was a mechanic for Bruce Jensen (father of Indy Lights team owner Eric Jensen) in Formula B and then Formula Atlantic.

Gary Grant, who runs thegarageblog.com, and long-time Canadian open-wheel racer Gary Magwood were up to see Leighton shortly before he died at Solders Memorial in Orillia. Grant has written a lovely tribute on his website and has links to photos and articles by and about Leighton.

Terribly sorry to hear he has passed this morning, he was great local guy, I was actually thinking of him last night as I drove past Port McNicoll on the way to visit my Nan, and how I hadn't seen him posting here for a while.

I'll raise a glass in Leighton's memory at Mosport this year.

[Andy77]

I am sorry to hear. It wasn't a couple of the better days lately.

The 'more sad news' link is the best and most senseful I read on the accident by far, be it on forums or news sites.

Here is hope for better days to come soon

[Super Hans]

Really sorry to hear that.

I enjoyed his posts - particular regarding Atlantics and Gilles Villeneuve.

[theracegypsy]

My condolences. I met Leighton couple of times during my years marshalling in Ontario, and he was always the gentleman.

[blueflagger]

That is sad news. My condolences to his family and friends.