BRODHEAD — The local racing community is mourning the death of Marshall D. Fairman, the co-owner of Sugar River Raceway, where female racing phenom Danica Patrick got her start in the sport.

According to an online obituary post, Fairman died on Aug 26. The Beloit resident was 65. He co-owned the track with his mother, Shirley.

“He is the first of us siblings to depart our earthly home, he is the first to be deeply missed, and he is the first to leave a wonderful spouse behind,” said a post on an online Tribute page created for Fairman by a local funeral home.

Fairman’s father, Dan, had the ½ mile track built in 1959. The name for the raceway is inspired by the nearby Sugar River.

“The track has always made a livelihood for us,” Fairman told the Monroe Times in 2015.

Sugar River raceway offers a rent-to-race program for newcomers to the sport and has special raceway rental rates for group outings. The track also hosts events for fans of vintage go-karts and racing.

Patrick, who went on to race Indy Cars and NASCAR, started racing at Sugar River many years ago, as the track was not far from her home just over the state line in Roscoe, Ill. Those experiences led to a slot in the Lyn St. James Foundation Driver Development Program; along with racing school in Europe at age 16.