Christian Elder

This article is about the American racing driver. For the ecclesiastical title, see Elder (Christianity).

Christian Elder
Born	Christian Stuart Elder (1968-12-06)December 6, 1968 Bloomington, Minnesota, United States
Died	August 12, 2007(2007-08-12) (aged 38) Cornelius, North Carolina, United States
Cause of death	Methadone overdose
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
24 races run over 2 years
Best finish	39th (2001)
First race	2001 Sam's Town 300 (Las Vegas)
Last race	2002 Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 (Daytona)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0

Christian Stuart Elder (December 6, 1968 – August 12, 2007) was an American racing driver. He raced in the Busch Series for Akins Motorsports for two years. His best finish of the year was 26th at Kentucky.

Elder made his debut in 2001, running his first race at Las Vegas for Akins where he started the race in 32nd, and he finished 23rd. In sixteen starts, he managed two top-20s (a pair of 20ths at Bristol and Dover). In 2002, Elder began running races for Akins full-time. A serious crash in qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway ended his Busch career.

Elder has competed in the ARCA series, Star Mazda Series, Speed World Challenge Series, Busch Series and NASCAR Goody's Dash Series which Elder competed in and won races at Daytona and Lowe's Motor Speedway. He also had a pole position at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Qualifying crash

During qualifying for a race at Chicagoland Speedway, Elder lost control of his car at turns three and four, causing his car to shoot up the track and hit the wall extremely hard, slamming the car's right side past the windshield, badly wrinkling the whole side of the car. He suffered a concussion and a broken collar bone. Track rescue workers had to cut him out of the race car and Elder was transported to a nearby hospital. The crash ended his NASCAR career.

Death

Elder died at his home in Cornelius, North Carolina, on Sunday, August 12, 2007, due to accidental methadone toxicity, caused by mixing up pills he was taking due to his accident. At the time of his death, Elder was a project manager for Elder-Jones, Inc. in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Busch Series

NASCAR Busch Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	34	NBSC	Pts	Ref
2001	Akins Motorsports	38	Ford	DAY DNQ	CAR	LVS 23	ATL 26	DAR	BRI 20	TEX	NSH	TAL 26	CAL 24	RCH	NHA	NZH 28	CLT 37	DOV 20	KEN 24	MLW	GLN	CHI 29	GTY 30	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI 35	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN 27	CLT 40	MEM	PHO 28	CAR	HOM 43		39th	1228
2002				DAY 36	CAR 37	LVS 38	DAR	BRI	TEX 31	NSH	TAL 43	CAL 43	RCH	NHA	NZH	CLT	DOV	NSH	KEN 26	MLW	DAY 29	CHI INQ†	GTY	PPR	IRP	MCH	BRI	DAR	RCH	DOV	KAN	CLT	MEM	ATL	CAR	PHO	HOM	58th	455
† - Qualified, but received career-ending injuries in a qualifying crash, and was replaced by Mark Green

External links

• Christian Elder driver statistics at Racing-Reference
• Obituary
• Elder Racing
• Elder-Jones, Inc. homepage
• Motorsport.com
• Photo Archive