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NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers
NASCAR's 75 Greatest Drivers is an alphabetical list of NASCAR drivers. It started as NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers as of 1998, the 50th anniversary of NASCAR, and was expanded with an additional 25 drivers in 2023, the 75 anniversary of NASCAR.. History In 1998, as part of its 50th anniversary celebration, NASCAR gathered a panel to select the "50 Greatest NASCAR Drivers of All Time." It was inspired in part by the NBA's decision to select the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History on its 50th anniversary in 1996. An independent group of 51 individuals representing various NASCAR roles were asked to give their objective and educated opinions on who the 50 greatest drivers in NASCAR history were. The living members of this group were honored on February 15, 1998 during pre-race festivities for the 1998 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. In 2023, as part of its 75th anniversary celebration, NASCAR announced it would add 25 names to the list, bringing the total to 75. N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
NASCAR
The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and his son, Jim France, has been the CEO since August 2018. The company is headquartered in Daytona Beach, Florida. Each year, NASCAR sanctions over 1,500 races at over 100 tracks in 48 US states as well as in Canada, Mexico, Brazil and Europe. History Early stock car racing In the 1920s and 1930s, Daytona Beach supplanted France and Belgium as the preferred location for world land speed records. After a historic race between Ransom Olds and Alexander Winton in 1903, 15 records were set on what became the Daytona Beach Road Course between 1905 and 1935. Daytona Beach had become synonymous with fast cars in 1936. Drivers raced on a course, consisting of a stretch of beach as one straightaway, and a narrow blacktop beachfront highway, Florid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richie Evans
Richard Ernest Evans (July 23, 1941Bourcier, Bones, "61 at 61", ''Speedway Illustrated'' (ISSN 1528-4182), Volume 3, Number 8, August 2002. – October 24, 1985), was an American racing driver who won nine NASCAR National Modified Championships, including eight in a row from 1978 to 1985. The International Motorsports Hall of Fame lists this achievement as "one of the supreme accomplishments in motorsports".International Motorsports Hall of Fame website, last verified September 17, 2007. Evans won virtually every major race for asphalt modifieds, most of them more than once, including winning the Race of Champions three times. Evans was elected to the NASCAR Hall of Fame on June 14, 2011. As one of the Class of 2012, Evans is one of the Hall's first 15 inductees, and is the first Hall of Famer from outside the now NASCAR Cup Series. Early career Evans left his family's farm in Westernville, New York at age 16 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Terry Labonte
Terrance Lee Labonte (born November 16, 1956), nicknamed Texas Terry or The Iceman, is an American former stock car driver who raced from 1978 to 2014 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup and Sprint Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series). A two-time Cup Series champion and 1989 IROC champion, he is the older brother of 2000 Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte, and the father of former Nationwide Series driver Justin Labonte. He also co-owns a Chevrolet dealership in Greensboro, North Carolina with Rick Hendrick. He appeared on the CBS series ''The Dukes of Hazzard'' in 1984, where he played an unnamed pit crew member. Early life Terry Labonte was born in Corpus Christi, Texas in 1956. He was introduced to racing through his father, who had worked on race cars as a hobby for his friends. He started racing quarter midgets when he was seven and won a national championship at nine before moving onto the local short tracks in a stock car as a teenager. Driving on both dirt and asphal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Kulwicki
Alan Dennis Kulwicki (December 14, 1954 – April 1, 1993), nicknamed "Special K" and the "Polish Prince", was an American auto racing driver and team owner. He started racing at local short tracks in Wisconsin before moving up to regional stock car touring series. Kulwicki arrived at NASCAR, the highest and most expensive level of stock car racing in the United States, with no sponsor, a limited budget and only a racecar and a borrowed pickup truck. Despite starting with meager equipment and finances, he earned the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award over drivers racing for well-funded teams. After Kulwicki won his first race at Phoenix International Raceway, he debuted what would become his trademark " Polish victory lap". Kulwicki won the 1992 Winston Cup Championship by what was then the closest margin in NASCAR history. He died early in 1993 in a light aircraft accident and therefore never defended his championship. He has been inducted into numerous racing halls of f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junior Johnson
Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became a NASCAR racing team owner, winning the NASCAR championship with Cale Yarborough and Darrell Waltrip. He produced a line of fried pork skins and country ham. He is credited as the first to use the drafting technique in stock car racing. He was nicknamed "The Last American Hero," and his autobiography is of the same name. In May 2007, Johnson teamed with Piedmont Distillers of Madison, North Carolina, to introduce the company's second moonshine product, called "Midnight Moon Moonshine". Early life and race career Johnson was born in Ronda, North Carolina, the fourth of seven children of Lora Belle (Money) and Robert Glenn Johnson, Sr. His family is of Ulster Scots descent, and settled in the foothills of North Carolina in the eighteen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ned Jarrett
Ned Jarrett (born October 12, 1932) is an American retired race car driver and two-time NASCAR Grand National Series champion. Because of his calm demeanor, he became known as "Gentleman Ned Jarrett". He is the father of former drivers Glenn Jarrett and Dale Jarrett. Racing career Jarrett was introduced to cars early in life: his father let him drive the family car to church on Sunday mornings when he was nine years old. Jarrett started working for his father in the sawmill by the time he was 12, but racing was what he wanted. Ned drove in his first race in 1952 at Hickory Motor Speedway (North Carolina). He drove a Sportsman Series Ford that he co-owned with his brother-in-law, and finished tenth. This did not go over well with his father. His father told him he could work on cars but not drive them. Once, his brother-in-law was sick for a race and asked Jarrett to fill in for him. Jarrett used his brother-in-law's name and came in second in that race. That worked out so smo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dale Jarrett
Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship in 1999. He is the son of 2-time Grand National Champion Ned Jarrett, younger brother of Glenn Jarrett, father of former driver Jason Jarrett, and cousin of Todd Jarrett. In 2007, Jarrett joined the ESPN/ABC broadcasting team as an announcer in select Nationwide Series races. In 2008, after retiring from driving following the 2008 Food City 500, he joined ESPN permanently as the lead racing analyst replacing Rusty Wallace. In 2015, Jarrett became a part of the NBC Sports Broadcasting Crew for NASCAR events. He was inducted in the 2014 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Early life and education Jarrett was born on November 26, 1956 in Conover, North Carolina, the middle child of Ned and Martha. Jarrett has an older brother, Glenn; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bobby Isaac
Robert Vance Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most famously associated with driving Nord Krauskopf's red No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge Charger. Isaac was NASCAR's Grand National Series champion in 1970. Isaac abruptly retired from full-time top-level competition in 1973 and died of a heart attack during a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1977. For his achievements, Isaac was named as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Early life Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second-youngest of nine children. He finished school after the sixth grade, which led to the incorrect rumor that he could neither read nor write. NASCAR career He began racing full-time in 1956, but it took him seven years to break into the Grand Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ernie Irvan
Virgil Earnest "Ernie" Irvan (born January 13, 1959), occasionally referred to as Swervin' Irvan, is an American former professional stock car racing driver. A retired NASCAR competitor, he is best remembered for his comeback after a serious head injury suffered from a crash during practice at Michigan in 1994 that left him with only a 10% chance of survival. Irvan has been inducted into numerous halls of fame and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. After a series of injuries in the late 1990s, he retired from racing in 1999. Early career Irvan began his racing career driving karts in California in 1968 at the age of nine. He won the California Championship at the age of 15. In 1974, Irvan finished second in the country in his class at the national kart championship races. In 1975, Irvan moved up to stock cars at the age of 16 at Stockton 99 Speedway and was victorious in his first race on asphalt in a semi-main event. From then until 1981 Irvan raced every wee ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jack Ingram (NASCAR)
Jack Ingram (December 28, 1936 – June 25, 2021) was an American NASCAR Busch Series race car driver. Nicknamed the "Iron Man",TV: Busch Series preview show for Bristol, ESPN2 channel, 24 August 2007, interview with Jack Ingram during eight seasons in the Busch Series, he won 31 races and 5 poles, as well as the 1982 and 1985 championships. Unlike most younger competitors, Ingram won his 31 races between the age of 45 and age 50. Career During most of his time in the series he drove the Skoal Bandit car (1984–1991). Throughout his Busch Series career he almost always raced in the No. 11 car. During the 1986 season, Ingram was suspended for two races by NASCAR after ramming a driver during a race in Asheville, North Carolina at the New Asheville Speedway. Jack Ingram got his start at the New Asheville Speedway, and there he was a marquee driver along with rival Bob Pressley. After his NBS retirement in 1991, he held the record for the most wins in the Busch Series, until it w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Hendrick
Ray Hendrick (April 1, 1929 – September 28, 1990) was an American race car driver. He was known as "Mr. Modified" during his 36-year career in motorsports, mainly in the modified stock car racing class. The Virginia native collected more than 700 victories in modifieds and the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman Series (later known as Busch Grand National Division). Ray Hendrick was inducted into the Virginia Sports Hall of Fame in 2012, and was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007. Hendrick raced his famous winged No. 11 Modified coupe fielded by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell. Rick Hendrick (no relation) was a pit crew member on his car in the 1960s. The Richmond, Virginia star won five track championships at South Boston Speedway, four of them while competing in the NASCAR Modified division and one in the NASCAR Late Model Sportsman division. Ray never won the National Modified Championship but finished in the Top 10 in Points nine times: *7th in 1960, * ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Gordon
Jeffery Michael Gordon (born August 4, 1971) is an American former professional stock car racing driver, who is the Vice Chairman for Hendrick Motorsports. He raced full-time from 1993 to 2015, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series and Sprint Cup Series (now called NASCAR Cup Series), and also served as a substitute driver for Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the No. 88 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports in select races during the 2016 season. He is regarded as one of the most influential drivers in NASCAR history, helping the sport reach mainstream popularity. Gordon started his professional racing career in the Busch Series with Hugh Connerty Racing, followed by Bill Davis Racing, winning three races, and began racing full-time in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series for Hendrick Motorsports in 1993. He is a four-time Cup Series champion, having won the title in 1995, 1997, 1998, and 2001. He was the youngest driver to win a NASC ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
