Christian Elder

Christian Stuart Elder
Born	(1968-12-06)December 6, 1968 Bloomington, Minnesota, United States
Died
Cause of death	Methadone Overdose
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
24 races run over 2 years
Best finish	20th - Dover, June 2001
First race	2001 Sam's Town 300 (Las Vegas)
Last race	2002 Stacker 2/GNC Live Well 250 (Daytona)

Christian Stuart Elder (December 6, 1968 – August 12, 2007) was a NASCAR driver. He raced in the Busch Series for Akins Motorsports for two years.

He made his debut in 2001, running his first race at Las Vegas for Akins and started the race in 32nd, and he finished 23rd. In sixteen starts, managed two top-20s (a pair of 20ths at Bristol and Dover).

Elder began running races for Akins in 2002 full-time. A serious crash in qualifying at Chicagoland Speedway ended his Busch career. His best finish of the year was 26th at Kentucky.

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 racing career.

Death

Elder died at his home in Cornelius, North Carolina, on Sunday, August 12, 2007, due to accidental methadone toxicity. 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. * – 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
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

References

• Christian Elder's Stats
• Obituary
• Elder Racing
• Elder-Jones, Inc. homepage
• Motorsport.com
• Photo Archive