Eileen Daniels
January 14, 2022
Obituary
Eileen Marie Daniels, 86, of Indianapolis passed away on Friday, January 14, 2022. She was born in Ohio to Gerald and Osie Torbert on April 22, 1935. Eileen was a member of the National Hot Rod Association for 60 years. She was the 4th women in drag racing to receive her license. In 1954 until 1956 she was a pioneer female racer. Bob and Eileen ran Indianapolis Raceway Park from 1979 until 1992. In 2001 she was inducted into the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame. In 2017 she became the 4th woman to receive the Patricia Garlits Memorial Award. In 2019 she was celebrated with a lifetime achievement award. She loved to spend time with her great grandkids. She also loved to travel and visit friends she knew through the years. Eileen was preceded in death by her parents; her husband of 54 years, Robert Daniels; and her son, David Daniels. She is survived by her brother Lavern (Kathy) Torbert; daughter, Diana (Rick) Jones; granddaughter, Rebecca (Levi) Bobb; grandson, Jeffrey Jones; great granddaughters, Khaleesi Bobb and Rilynn Jones; and her great grandson, Gatlin Jones. A visitation for Eileen will be held on Friday, January 28, 2022 from 9:00 AM until 11:00 AM with a funeral service to follow at 11:00 AM at First United Methodist Church in Clermont, FL. Interment will follow at Bushnell National Cemetery in Leesburg, FL.
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Memories
DH
Dave Huber
Other •
Prayers sent to the Daniles Family from the Kentucky Motorsports Hall of Fame.
PF
Pattie Prestidge Frost
Other •
To The Family of EILEEN DANIELS we send our condolences this Lady has lead a very special Life and enjoyed every “PASS” she made on the many Race Tracks in USA CANADA and Internationally as a Racer a Promoter Official for NHRA and to the thousand of friends she made along the way. We first met at Half Moon Bay (N. California) in the early 60’s when Wally and Barbara Parks the owner of NHRA and Bob and Eileen came to view the Race Track. We met again when I moved to Southern Calif to start my career in Motorsports working for Bell Helmets (1972) our lives continued as I took a position and moved to Kansas City (1980) once again I had the opportunity to cover Divison 3 and Divison 5 for Hoosier Racing Tire and when it came time to build a larger complex Eileen was able to steer me in the right direction for our Hoosier Tire Midwest Indy location.
Mentoring was Eileen’s speciality as long as she could see her results! Now she’s together with Bob and Son God Bless. Wonderful Lady!
PB
Paul Brown
Other •
Very sad to hear about your loss. Eileen was extremely helpful to me at NHRA events. I was a Rookie, and she took me under her wing. Very grateful. Praying that you can recover from this loss.