LOCKPORT — One of the Lockport area’s greatest race car drivers — a man whose love of life and racing transcended time and made him one of the most popular and respected figures in the sport for decades — has died.

Cam Gagliardi, whose career included stints at local tracks including Ransomville, Lancaster and Merrittville, as well as national sites that included the mighty Daytona Speedway, passed away Wednesday at his Lockport home after a lengthy illness. He was 82.

“He just had this great love of life and the sport of racing. And he was a very giving, compassionate man. He didn’t have one favorite memory of his career. It was always a collection of things that he enjoyed,” said his widow, Paula, on Thursday.

Funeral arrangements are with Prudden & Kandt Funeral Home, 242 Genesee St. Calling hours will be released on Saturday, she said.

Gagliardi’s career began after high school in 1948, when he built his first car and raced a dirt midget at local tracks, including Civic Stadium in Buffalo.

Sponsored by Gagliardi Brothers Texaco in Lockport, Gagliardi became was one of the first drivers from Lockport to race regularly in Canada, first at Stamford Park, then in Guelph, Brantford, Ancaster and finally, Merrittville. Gagliardi and other local drivers, including Ken Meahl, Bill Rafter and Ed Ortiz, soon became regulars at Merrittville.

Throughout the mid-1950s, Gagliardi and long time friend and mechanic Gil Cramer competed at tracks throughout Western New York and Ontario, pulling pranks on other drivers (including exploding cigars) that made him and his Lazy 8 one of the most popular at Merrittville.

When Lancaster Speedway (now Dunn Tire Raceway) first opened, Gagliardi raced there as well.

In 1959, Gagliardi raced during Speedweeks in the modified race at the new Daytona Speedway. He returned to Daytona a year later to drive a Lazy 1 1950 Chevrolet Fastback. He returned to Daytona in 1961 with a 1953 Studebaker, but was black flagged for a carbon monoxide problem.

“One of Cam’s funniest memories was when he hit the wall at Daytona one year and they took him to the local hospital,” Paula said.

“He was in the emergency room and there were people crowded around a little television, saying things like, ‘Look at that crash! Gosh, somebody really got hurt — oh that must be you.’ They had to set him in a tub of ice for the night, but he got through it. He just enjoyed the racing so much.”

In 1963, Gagliardi and Cramer’s Studebaker 70, now Pontiac-powered, returned to Daytona, this time with North Carolina’s Lee Roy Yarbrough driving and they won the race.

But Gagliardi loved local racing and continued to compete at Ransomville, Lancaster and Merrittville tracks through the late 1970s. Gagliardi even had the pleasure of racing with his son, David (Kim), in a limited Sportsman at the age of 55.

He was the owner of the Wobble Shop on Chestnut Ridge Road for 40 years.

“Even after he was done driving, he still loved going to NASCAR and especially DIRT track races. He enjoyed racing in general and he loved talking to the other guys,” Paula said.

Besides his widow, Gagliardi is survived by two children, David “Kim” of Medina and Lynne of Lockport and three step-children, Andrea Blakelock of Lewiston and Dyan Regester and Thomas Ohol, both of Pendleton. His first wife, Lynne Truesdell, resides in the Town of Lockport.