UPTON, Mass. – New England racing legend George Summers has died. He was 83.

Summers was the all-time leader in career feature wins at Massachusetts’ Seekonk Speedway, taking down more than 100 victories at the historic third-mile oval during his 32-year career behind the wheel.

He was a two-time track champion at Seekonk, in 1967 and again in 1974, and a bounty was placed on Summers by the track after he went on a seven-race winning streak during that title-winning ’74 season. He also nearly won the 1976 Oxford 250, but ran out of fuel with two laps remaining.

Summers was a participant in some of the pre-modern era NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour races, taking part in the series before the 1985 restructuring, and he spent the final years of his career driving for car owner Art Barry, winning the 1982 World Series at Thompson Speedway Motorsports Park before retiring at the end of that day.

Coming out of retirement in the mid-2000s, Summers won an S.T.A.R. event before permanently ending his time in racing as a driver.

Summers was inducted into the New England Auto Racing Hall of Fame in 2000 and the North-East Motorsports Museum in November of 2017. He is also a member of the Seekonk Wall of Fame.

“People who have participated in sports usually sort of wither away and people forget,” North-East Motorsports Museum curator Dr. Dick Berggren told the Milford Daily News in 2017. “But George’s career was so profound and so strong, he is hardly forgotten. He was respectful, successful, and very well liked.”