Harness: Longtime Illinois driver Tim Curtin passes

A fixture on the Illinois circuit for many years, driver Tim Curtin passed away last night at the age of 61. Currently tied for second in the driver standings at Hawthorne with 23 wins on the meet, Curtin had an illustrious career that spanned back into the late 1970’s.

Curtin drove home 3,245 horses to victory during his driving career of over 40 years for $22,749,563 in career earnings. Curtin also trained another 30 winners in that timespan as well. His best season for victories came in 1997 when he drove 219 winners on the year while in 2008 he had a career year for earnings with $1,900,785. In 2019, Tim had been the regular driver for top Illinois-bred Meyer On Fire, along with Jazzie Babe, a winner of four of her first five starts to open her career.

Tim’s son Pat had driven and trained in Illinois for many years as well. A moment of silence will be held in Tim’s memory prior to the start of races on Friday evening at Hawthorne.

Hawthorne Race Course, Chicago’s Hometown Track, returned for live harness racing on Friday, May 3. The summer harness meet opened on Friday, May 3 and races through September 22.

-edited release (Hawthorne)