Campbell, John D.

John D. Campbell, (born April 8, 1955, Ailsa Craig, Ontario, Canada), Canadian harness racing driver who was North America’s leading money winner and a six-time champion at the Hambletonian (1987, 1988, 1990, 1995, 1998, and 2006), the top race for three-year-old trotters.

Campbell absorbed the basics of horsemanship from his father and grandfather and then set off in the early 1970s to tracks in the Detroit, Michigan–Windsor, Ontario, area. When the Meadowlands racetrack opened in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in late 1976, Campbell relocated there, distinguishing himself with his driving skills and professionalism. In 1979, at age 24, he ranked as the richest driver in harness racing, his horses having earned more than $3.3 million.

Between 1982 and 2002, Campbell ranked either first or second in money earnings among all drivers in North America. He achieved a milestone in 1982 when Merger, a pacer he trained and drove, won the Little Brown Jug (the top North American race for three-year-old pacers), but he soon gave up training to concentrate on driving. He drove Mack Lobell to victory in record time in the 1987 Hambletonian; the next year he and Mack Lobell defeated Europe’s finest trotters in Sweden’s prestigious Elitlopp. In 1990, at age 35, Campbell became the youngest person ever inducted into the Living Hall of Fame at the Harness Racing Museum in Goshen, New York. The following year he drove Armbro Keepsake to victory in the Breeders Crown and became the first harness driver to pass $100 million in career earnings. In 1995 he drove the winners of both the Hambletonian and the Little Brown Jug.

After achieving his best season in 2001 (with more than $14 million in earnings), Campbell was seriously injured in a racing accident in 2003 and missed several months on the track. He also lost time in 2004 when he aggravated that injury. When Campbell turned 50 in 2005, many thought that his star was waning, but in 2006 he drove Triple Crown-winning trotter Glidemaster to victory in the Hambletonian and the Kentucky Futurity. In February 2007 the U.S. Harness Writers Association awarded Campbell the title of 2006 Driver of the Year. Although Flirtin Man, the first horse for which he was co-owner as well as driver, broke stride in the 2007 Hambletonian, Campbell drove Corleone Kosmos to victory in the Nat Ray Invitational on the same race card. By the end of the 2007 season, he had become the first harness racing driver to surpass $250 million in career winnings. He achieved another milestone on July 12, 2008, when he earned his 10,000th career victory as a driver.

In 2017 Campbell retired. His career totals included 10,688 victories and purse winnings of nearly $300 million.