Notes:
Amateur modified stock car driver and builder Norman Nelson, 41-year-old City Manager of South Haven in Van Buren County, Michigan, was killed when the racing car he built himself rolled over during a race on the half-mile oval of Hartford Speedway Park, on Saturday night, 31 August 1963.

Norman Nelson raced as a hobby for almost ten years. Driving his #41 car, he was following the leading group in the 50-lap main event of the last race of the season at the track. On the seventh lap he lost control of his car when its accelerator apparently stuck. While traveling at more than 100 mi/h (160 km/h), the car bumped the rear of another competitor, Mort Anderson of Grand Rapids. Both vehicles went off the track at turn 3 and Nelson's car flipped over an embankment, coming to rest in an upright position.

Still alive when he was pulled out of the wreckage, Norman Nelson was rushed to Watervliet Community Hospital and then transferred to Memorial Hospital in Saint Joseph, Berrien County, where he was declared dead on arrival. The driver died of multiple injuries, including neck fracture, a mangled hand, a crushed left chest and a basal skull fracture.

His #41 car, one of the many Nelson had built during his career, was totally demolished in the crash. Its front end was ripped off, the roll bars gave way and the top caved in. Mort Anderson was unscathed and after the accident he drove his car into the pits.

This was reported to be the second fatality at the Hartford Speedway Park since it was opened in 1951. Stock car racer Robert Polmateer was killed at the track on 01 July 1961.

A lifelong sports enthusiast, Norman Nelson had been a South Haven high school football star and a Michigan Golden Gloves finalist in the early 1940s. He tried professional boxing before serving in the Army Air Force. He joined the city of South Haven police force in 1947. Five years later he was appointed the city clerk's post, a position he held until January 1963, when he became the first City Manager. Survivors included his wife, Vivian; a daughter, Pamela, and a son, Nicholas; his father, Norman G. Nelson. He was buried at Lakeview Cemetery in South Haven, Van Buren County, Michigan.

Norman Nelson's death occurred in one of several racing accidents - some of whom also fatal - across the nation, during the 1963 Labor Day weekend. Two spectators were killed by an out of control stock car which smashed into a grandstand crowd at Roseburg Speedway, Oregon; at Wilkesboro Raceway Park, North Carolina, Archie Dale Vickers died when his drag racing car rolled over him; dragster racer Ted Arnold crashed fatally at Green Valley Raceway near Fort Worth, Texas, when his braking chute failed to open. Two other drag racers were badly injured in separate crashes during a NHRA event at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

• U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
• U.S. World War II Navy Muster Rolls, 1938-1949.
• Michigan, Deaths and Burials Index, 1867-1995.
• Social Security Death Index.
• Book "The History of America's Speedways - Past & Present", 2nd edition, by Allan E. Brown, Comstock Park, MI, United States, 1994, ISBN 0-931105-42-0, page 295.
• Newspaper The Oklahoman (Oklahoma City, OK, United States), issue of Monday, 02 September 1963, page 18 [K1].
• Newspaper The Marion Star (Marion, OH, United States), issue of Monday, 02 September 1963, page 10 [K1].
• Newspaper Chicago Tribune (Chicago, IL, United States), issue of Monday, 02 September 1963, page D1, Associated Press wire service, article "Auto Racing Takes Heavy Death Toll", retrieved by website https://www.newspapers.com/image/374683076/ .
• Newspaper The Herald-Press (Saint Joseph, MI, United States), issue of Tuesday, 03 September 1963, page 1, article "South Haven City Manager Dies In Race Track Crash", retrieved by website https://www.newspapers.com/image/365420499/ .
• Newspaper The News-Palladium (Benton Harbor, MI, United States), issue of Wednesday, 04 September 1963, page 15, article "Mayor Pays Tribute To Norman Nelson", retrieved by website https://www.newspapers.com/image/364583146/ .
• Website Find-A-Grave: Norman T. Nelson.
• E-mail by Rick Kelly, dated 30 July 2004, citing [K1].
• E-mail by Steve Estes, dated 11 November 2010.