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Weedsport, NY (March 25, 2026) – The Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame joins the racing world in mourning the death and celebrating the life of pioneer driver and fabricator Bob Rossell, who passed away on March 24 after a long illness, with his wife Carol by his side. He was 89.
Rossell, from Jacobstown, NJ, was inducted into the Northeast Dirt Modified Hall of Fame in 2018.
Rossell began racing on the paved New Egypt Speedway quarter-mile in 1958, in an old Chevy coupe with an engine out of a junk pile. Working out of NES champion “Stubby” Stevens’ nearby Jacobstown garage, along with his good friend Gil Hearne, Bob was just getting going when the U.S. Air Force took him out of the scene for a year, in 1961.
When Rossell returned, he jumped back in with both feet — barnstorming up and down the Eastern seaboard, tagging along with the infamous “Eastern Bandits,” holding his own with Ed Flemke, Dennis Zimmerman, Rene Charland, Red Foote and the like.
Bob’s big scores include NASCAR’s 200-lap Battle of Bull Run at Old Dominion in 1963, Wall Stadium’s 300-lap Garden State Classic (twice), Langhorne qualifiers at Flemington and Orange County Fair Speedway, five extra-distance events at East Windsor, and a 90-minute timed race on the 1-1/8 mile Nazareth National big track, where he beat the great Frankie Schneider on the last turn of the last lap. After dominating Utica-Rome’s 1963 New Yorker 400, Rossell’s win was protested by Lou Lazzaro, who alleged Bob was pushed across the line. Many months later, NASCAR awarded the win to Lazzaro.
Rossell was a regular in the elite All-Star Racing League from 1967-71.
He was also a sought-after car builder, with top drivers like Will Cagle and Tommy Corellis, among others, finding success in Rossell racers. Cagle ran Rossell cars almost exclusively from 1965-72, arguably some of his best years racing in the Northeast.
It was a great existence until July 1971, when Rossell was critically injured during an All-Star event at Lebanon Valley, almost losing a foot, laid up in Albany Medical Center for 29 days.
Tough and stubborn, Bob was back driving the following spring. By July of ’72, he was back in form, clicking off five wins that summer, including a 100-lap Syracuse qualifier at East Windsor.
Rossell never officially retired — “I put the car on the trailer after a rough night at East Windsor and just never took it off.” — but went on to a second career, building sulkies for Standard bred horses for more than a decade.
