Topeka native Bruce Hill’s close friend, Mark Toelkes, said the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series rookie of the year fought to the end Sunday morning before passing away from complications due to esophageal cancer at the age of 67.

Toelkes, who grew up with Hill in Tecumseh before both attended Shawnee Heights, was with Hill when he passed at Midland Hospice. Toelkes said Hill’s condition had progressively deteroriated since he was hospitalized in April.

"We’ve been lifelong friends and it is a very good thing that he’s not suffering anymore," Toelkes said.

A 1967 Shawnee Heights graduate, Hill began racing in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series (now the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series) full time in 1975 and earned rookie of the year honors after recording three top-five and 11 top-10 finishes in 26 events, finishing 16th in points.

Hill raced in 100 Cup events over eight seasons, led nine laps and posted 21 top-10 finishes.

In May 2016, Hill was at Kansas Speedway during race weekend as a guest of Sprint Cup driver AJ Allmendinger and the JTG Daugherty Racing No. 47 team for the formal announcement of the team’s plans to run a Hill-inspired throwback paint scheme in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in September 2016. Hill drove the No. 47 during his Cup career.

Hill and several of his former crew members were able to attend the Darlington race, and Toelkes said it was fitting that Hill got the chance to experience one last hurrah in racing.

"They went to the Southern 500 and the JTG Daugherty team treated them like gold," Toelkes said. "Darlington even had a pre-race parade and they had a float in the parade.

"I couldn’t go because of business reasons, but Bruce was texting me and calling me from Darlington telling me how cool it was and that everything was going great. He had the time of his life."