on august 16, 2007, while competing in a whelen modified race at thompson speedway, blewett lost his life in a crash where he spun and was hit in the driver's door by his brother jimmy's car. on august 18, 2007 wall township speedway held a special memorial for john. fans, family, and friends attended the speedway to pay their final respects. on the final lap of the scheduled 40 lap modified event, 1990 nascar whelen modified titlist jamie tomaino piloted the famed no. 76 for a solo lap in john's honor. three months later, at the season ending turkey derby, the speedway decided to reserve the no. 76 exclusively for use by the blewett family, effectively retiring the number except that any blewett family owned team or driver can use it, meaning any car owned by the blewett family, or driven by brother jimmy or his son john iv, who started racing in 2017.