RPW Exclusive: Former Orange County / Nazareth Racer Bryan Kantner Passes Away
Column By: MIKE TRAVERSE / RPW – MIDDLETOWN, NY – Sad news recently surfaced in the OCFS/Nazareth community that Bryan Kantner, a Sportsman feature winner at both tracks, passed away on August 25th.
Bryan started racing in the Sportsman division at OCFS in the mid 70’s. After a few seasons racing his own #23 car, he raced Ken Slingerland’s car at both OCFS and Nazareth in 1977 & 78.
Driving the Slingerland #25, Bryan recorded single Sportsman wins at both Orange County and Nazareth in 1977. The 1978 season at Nazareth was his most successful as he went to Victory Lane 4 times.
Returning to his own car in 1979, Bryan raced several more seasons before calling it a career. He sometimes would return to OCFS for the annual Nostalgia Night festivities.
Both the OCFS and Nazareth Speedway social media pages spoke fondly of Bryan on Sunday.
Quote from the Orange County Fair Speedway page: “The Speedway lost another one of its great racers with the passing of Bryan Kantner on Friday August 25th. Bryan was a long time racer, a fan favorite and an all around great guy.”
Quote from the Nazareth Speedway page: “We lost a great racer & person, Bryan Kantner. Truly a fan favorite, with always great looking cars, whether his own #23 or the Slingerlands #25. Just lucky we got to know him and watch him race.”
Those of us at Race Pro Weekly send our condolences to Bryan’s family and friends.
