NASCAR Garage Rocked By Two Deaths In One Awful Day

Thursday was a gut-punch of a day for the NASCAR world. Two deaths within the span of a few hours rocked the garage, and both may or may not be names you've ever heard. 

But the fact that dozens of drivers and teams – past and present – released statements shows the impact these two legends had on the industry. 

Longtime PR man Jon Edwards, who was notably Jeff Gordon's guy for decades, and veteran writer Al Pearce both died Thursday afternoon. 

Pearce, who worked for Autoweek, was 82 and reportedly suffered a heart attack. Edwards, currently the communications director at Hendrick Motorsports, was 53. His cause of death has not been announced. 

Obviously, one was more expected than the other. Both, however, rocked the NASCAR world – including myself – in a way I haven't seen in quite some time. 

Jon Edwards, Al Pearce were NASCAR giants

I could go on and on – but you get the picture. It's rare that you see a sport rally together from all walks of life – players (drivers) and media alike – but NASCAR is different from the rest. 

You get access to a NASCAR garage on race weekend that you don't get, say, on a football field or a baseball diamond. Trust me. 

Folks can just walk around the garage area and literally touch the cars as they're being worked on. I wouldn't recommend it, but the possibility certainly exists. 

The season is also 36 weeks long. NASCAR is, by far, the longest season of all the major sports in America. From February to November, this community is together for nearly every single weekend. Do you understand how long that is? 

Drivers spend more time with the media – and their own PR people – than they do with their families most years. That's nuts. I couldn't do it. I wouldn't do it. But a ton of folks do, and they love it. 

And that's why losing Al Pearce and Jon Edwards is notable. I didn't know Jon – I'd met him once or twice at Daytona – but I followed him for years. I was a Jeff Gordon fan growing up. 

When I say Jon was Jeff's guy, I mean it. You didn't talk to Jeff without going through Jon. It wasn't an easy job – Jeff Gordon was a pretty big name for about 20 straight years, you know – but he loved it. He was good at it. From everyone I've talked to, he was good to everyone who approached him. 

Again, it's not easy. Do you understand how popular Jeff Gordon was from 1995-2016? It was him, the Earnhardts, and then everyone else. Not easy. 

I did know Al. I've worked in the Daytona media center every February and August (or July) since 2017. You couldn't miss Al. Giant dude with a booming voice. 

"Al Pearce, Autoweek." I can hear it right now as I write this. He just had one of those voices that you remember. 

He loved NASCAR. He covered 56 straight Daytona 500s. Fifty-six! That means there have only been 11 Great American Races without Al in attendance. That's insane. 

He was the Iron Man of the NASCAR media world, and drivers respected the hell out of him. So did the teams, the tracks, and the bigwigs in the tall glass building across from the speedway. 

I saw him a few months ago down here. He looked older, but he didn't act it. Or sound it. I knew he was 82, but I didn't expect this.

And I certainly didn't expect to lose Jon Edwards hours later. Nobody in the NASCAR world did. 

A gut-punch of a Thursday.