Howard Leslie "Bumpy" Bumpus (May 4, 1914 â June 16, 1946) was an American racing driver from Brockton, Massachusetts. Bumpus began racing in the late 1930s.
In the middle of a 1940 race, Bumpus drove through a fence; he then walked out of the wreckage, assured the audience he was okay, and won a subsequent race in a borrowed car. In a 1936 racing event, Bumpus first crashed into two stalled cars and then crashed into a clump of bushes.
Bumpus was described as a fan favorite. He competed in big car races that populated the anomalous American Automobile Association (AAA) sanctioned National Championship in 1946. In June 1946, he sought to end a streak of mid-race mechanical errors. Bumpus died after crashing, either because of swerving to avoid hitting another car, or flipping due to striking the rear wheel of the race leader, during a heat race at Flemington Speedway, the 14th race of the 1946 AAA season.