Notes:
Peter Romcevich, of Gary, Indiana was killed at the Michigan State Fairgrounds track, a 1-mile flat dirt oval in Detroit, Michigan. During the 150-mile midget car race that climaxed the Michigan State Fair's closing day, the front axle of Romcevich's car broke, locking his wheels as he raced into a turn. His car crashed through a guard rail in the southwest turn, where there were no grandstands. It shot into the air, landed atop a parked car and careened off it into a group of spectators, a policeman, his horse and another car. The policeman, Clem Woodbury, had just dismounted. He and three spectators, Alfred Doddsworth, Charles Brall and Vasel George sustained injuries. Romcevich suffered fatal wounds in the crash and the policeman's horse, "Spooks," died as well.

Some reports said that Romcevich appeared to slump over his steering wheel just before the crash, but fellow drivers said that it was more likely that Romcevich, knowing that a crash was unavoidable, was trying to avoid injury by ducking his head below the windscreen.

Pete Romcevich came to the United States in 1922, arriving on the Empress of Scotland that sailed from Hamburg, Germany on 05 September and arrived at Quebec, CA on 14 September. He came alone. His name is listed on the passenger manifest as Slavko Romcevic, from Lasinja, Croatia, where he likely was born (the correct spelling of his surname is Romčević in Croatian). His age on the manifest was changed from 14 to 16. The former is likely correct as it matches his tombstone birthdate. His destination is listed as Gary.

At the time he was born, the town of Lasinja was in the Kingdom of Croatia and Slavonia, which was an autonomous kingdom in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. By the time he left, the area had become part of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes. It later became Yugoslavia. Today the town of Lasinja is in eastern Karlovac County, Republic of Croatia.

Romcevich started racing soon after he arrived in Gary, as he was competing at nearby Roby Speedway in big cars in 1925. He raced for 23 years in all forms of auto racing, primarily in open-wheel.

Pete Romcevich was very popular with race fans in the Midwest and East. He make it to Indy, placing twelfth in the 1947 Indianapolis 500 driving the Miller-Ford sponsored by Camco Motors. He tried to make the field the next year in a car owned by Norm Brown, but did not qualify.

Besides being a driver, Pete Romcevich was a race car builder, with a shop near the Roby Speedway in Hammond, IN. He is known to have built the Riley-Ford-powered sprint car owned and raced by Carl Craver and Ed Jensen for two decades.

A brother, George, also moved to the US, but his mother, another brother and sister stayed back in Yugoslavia. Pete and his wife, Fern, and children, Lila and Peter, Jr., lived at 2224 W. Ridge Drive in Gary. He is buried in Ridge Lawn Park, Gary, Indiana.

The website Old Racing Cars lists him as Yugoslavian, but he obtained the American citizenship in 1938 in Chicago, IL.

• U.S. WWII Draft Cards Young Men, 1940-1947.
• Border Crossings: From Canada to U.S., 1895-1956.
• Illinois, Federal Naturalization Records, 1856-1991.
• Northern District, Illinois, Naturalization Index, 1926-1979.
• Book "Racers At Rest: The Checkered Flag: 1905 – 2008," by Rose, Heiseler, Chaparro and Sharpe, Rose Racing Publications, 2008, page 268, printing article titled "Ball Detroit Winner; Romcevich Killed In 150-Mile Championship Midget Race" from unknown newspaper.
• Book "The Tribute Project", edited by Ed Watson, 1997, page 34, contribution by Charlie Ross and Carl Sweigart. [incorrect date of death]
• Book "The History of America's Speedways, Past & Present," Allan E. Brown, 3rd edition, 2003, page 372.
• Newspaper Des Moines Register (Des Moines, Iowa, United States) issue of 08 September 1952, page 4. [C]
• Newspaper The Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California, USA) issue of Monday, 08 September 1952, page D3, article "Midget Driver Killed in Detroit", wire feed from Associated Press.
• Newspaper The Gary Post-Tribune (Gary, Indiana, USA) issue of Monday, 08 September 1952, page 1, article "Racer Romcevich Dead In Detroit".
• Newspaper The Gary Post-Tribune (Gary, Indiana, USA) issue of Wednesday, 10 September 1952, page 24, article "Romcevich Funeral At 1 p.m. Tomorrow".
• Newspaper Long Beach Independent (Long Beach, California, United States) issue of Monday, 10 September 1952, page 1 of section 2, article titled "Driver Killed, Four Hurt As Midget Racer Crashes", wire feed from United Press.
• Website Old Racing Cars, chapter "The Indy 500 drivers - Where are they now?", by Richie Jenkins, page http://www.oldracingcars.com/bydriver/watn.asp?letter=R&Category=Indy500starts
• Website Wikipedia, article "Lasinja", page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lasinja.
• Website http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z15036/Riley-Champ-Car.aspx
• Website Find-A-Grave: Peter “Pete” Romcevich.
• E-mail by Jimmy Piget, dated 18 November 2004, citing personal files.
• E-mail by Richard Cole, dated 14 November 2005, citing [C].
• E-mail by Jim Michels, dated 20 November 2005.
• E-mail by Jerry Vlasic, dated 28 February 2006.