Killed in an AAA National Championship practice crash, just one week after he took his first AAA win. Dirt track ace for some years. Gleason was an automobile salesman away from racing. Gleason served in the United States Army during World War One and was of both English and Irish ancestry through his father, Edward, who was a railroad engineer. Gleason himself originally started on the railroads himself, following his father, working initially as a fire stoker. Gleason had escaped death a number of times before he died; he was left with a limp after one serious crash in 1928, at Salem, New Hampshire, in a year that saw two other big crashes. He also suffered serious internal injuries in 1929, but returned to racing again in 1930 after a long recovery.

Biography last updated 2 Sep 2017