Ron Nielson, the longtime car owner of National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame driver Dick Barton and for 12 seasons owner of Raceway 7 in Conneaut, Ohio, died Monday at his Guys Mills, Pa., home after a brief illness. He was 94.

Nielson’s black-and-orange, The Bolt Place-sponsored No. 28B driven by Ashville, N.Y.’s Barton from 1993-2009 was one of the region’s winningest cars with the Stateline-Eriez circuit racer racking up 172 victories for Nielson during the prime of a 40-year career with more than 225 victories overall among 14 tracks in four states.

“Mr. Nielson was just a car owner that every driver would love to have,” said Randy Anderson, a longtime team member who kept meticulous statistics of Barton’s success. “He didn’t work on the car. He just loved racing. He’d show up at the track, chew on his cigars, watch the races and just pat us on the back when it was over.”

Along with operating his race team and multiple businesses, Nielson bought Ace High Speedway in March 2007 from Cliff Brown and changed the track name to Raceway 7. Nielson sold the 4/10-mile oval to Dan McDonald in 2009.

Nielson was honored by the RUSH racing organization with the 2016 Legacy Award. Barton was in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame's Class of 2020.

A U.S. Navy veteran who served in the Korean War, Nielson was preceded in death by his wife Thelma in 2013. Among survivors are daughters Pam Lenigan, Melody Nielson and Stacey Tice along with four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Visitation is 6-8 p.m. Friday, Jan. 24, and noon-2 p.m. Saturday at Hatheway-Tedesco Funeral Home and Crematory in Meadville, Pa., followed by a 2 p.m. Saturday service. Find a complete obituary at hatheway-tedesco.com.