NASCAR Driver Bobby East Fatally Stabbed At California Gas Station

Racin Boys/YouTube/Westminster Police Department

NASCAR legend Bobby East has died after being stabbed at a California gas station. He was 37.

The incident took place at a 76 gas station in Westminster, California, on Wednesday (July 13). The Westminster Police Department reported that East was stabbed in the chest and officers “attempted life saving measures” while awaiting transportation to a local trauma center where the driver died.

27-year-old Trent William Millsap has been named as a suspect in the stabbing. The suspect fled before police arrived, but is known by the WPD as a transient with an outstanding parole warrant. Milsap is considered armed and dangerous and the motive for the attack on East is not known.

Deadline reports that Millsap and East got into a verbal disagreement while East was pumping gas. Millsap then stabbed the NASCAR driver in the chest before fleeing. Millsap was also accused of stabbing another man at the gas station before attacking East.

Bobby East was a native of Torrance, California, who was a three-time United States Auto Club (USAC) National Champion driver in USAC Silver Crown and Midgets (2004, 2012 and 2013).

The son of USAC Hall of Fame car builder Bob East, Bobby became one of the youngest USAC national feature winners at the age of 16 in 2001. The accomplishment earned him the series’ Rookie of the Year.

In 2012 and 2013, East teamed up with Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing to win two consecutive series championships. In 2012, his finish at the Sumar Classic Terre Haute finale earned him a place in history books as one of only nine drivers in USAC history to have won in all three national divisions: Silver Crown, National Sprint Car and National Midget.

In 2014, East ended his USAC career with a third place finish at the New York State Fairgrounds for the Silver Crown season finale.