Groton — A local man who was a longtime fixture at the Waterford-New London Speedbowl and a loving father was walking to get the mail on Thursday — his 80th birthday — when he was hit by a passing car, his son said.

John Brouwer Sr. was retired from his work at the Speedbowl and as a landscaper, and was living with his son, John, on Crystal Lake Road.

Police said Tuesday that Brouwer was hit by a car driven by Elizabeth J. Bentley, 58, of Groton, and that the crash is still under investigation. No charges have been filed against Bentley, according to Groton Town police Deputy Chief Paul Gately.

Brouwer filled every possible job there was at the Speedbowl over the years, including driving the pace car, his son John said. And when Brouwer Jr. started racing, his father became his coach and biggest supporter, he said Tuesday.

“He was the man behind me,” Brouwer Jr. said. “He was more than a dad…he was like my backbone at the races.”

Brouwer senior’s father was Jack Brouwer, a co-owner of the track in the 1960s. The track served as a home away from home for multiple generations of the Brouwer family, including John Jr. John Brouwer Sr. served as a historian of sorts at the track, writing a book about the history of the Speedbowl and appearing in a documentary about the facility last year.

“The guy was there, he saw every single aspect of…running a short track,” said Rob Janovic Jr., a Waterford native and longtime Speedbowl racer.

Brouwer Jr. remembered his father as a quiet but gentle man who loved animals.

He said his father once rescued a bird — possibly a robin — from the track, and brought it to a veterinarian to be fixed up and released.

“That was the kind of man he was,” he said.

Brouwer Jr. said his father had survived a near-deadly car crash on I-395 more than a decade ago, and a ski accident in the 1960s.

“He wasn’t a quitter, he was a strong man,” Brouwer Jr. said. “He always got out of it, he always came back.”

According to his obituary, he graduated from Mitchell College and from American International College in Massachusetts. He came back to southeastern Connecticut to work at the Speedbowl and work in landscaping and farming, growing and selling all kinds of trees across the region.

With Dave Shipee, Brouwer wrote a column for a racing publication called Speedway Scene, travelling all over the country to NASCAR races and buying season seats to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. When he and Shipee wrote a book about the Waterford-New London Speedbowl, Brouwer gave Janovic — then a nearly brand-new driver — a copy as a gift.

“It was a perfect storm for me — a book about racing,” Janovic said. “His knowledge of the short track weekly racing industry was unmatched.”

Shawn Monahan, a former driver who was the Speedway's manager for two years, called Brouwer "part of the foundations of the existence of the racetrack."

"He was very reserved, kind of quiet and behind-the-scenes," Monahan said. But, he said "I know that...one of his greatest pleasures was watching his son drive a racecar."

Besides John, Brouwer had two other sons: Steven, who lives in New London, and Scott, who lives in Niantic. He and the boys’ mother, Anna Hansen, divorced in the early 1970s, Brouwer Jr. said.

Brouwer had slowed down in recent years, his son said, but would still often leave to walk the dog, go to the store for a soda and, every day, check the mail.

Brouwer Jr. said he has put up signs outside his house to try to slow down drivers that speed out of the Naval Submarine Base, to no avail.

With his father’s Jack Russell dog barking in the background, he said he is waiting for police to tell him what they learn in their investigation of the crash before he passes judgment on his father’s death.

“God teaches us to forgive,” he said. “I know it’s going to be tough, but I’m going to have to forgive her.”

m.shanahan@theday.com

Editor's note: This version corrects incorrect several inaccuracies.