NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award
   HOME
*



picture info

NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award
NASCAR's Most Popular Driver Award is awarded to the most popular NASCAR driver in the Cup Series, Xfinity Series, and Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series every year since 1956. It started as a poll of the drivers and then all NASCAR Cup Series competitors; today, it is voted for by fans across the United States. The award is presented by the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA). Sponsored by Hamburger Helper in 2010, it was also sponsored by Wheaties in 2011. The ceremony presenting the award is called the NASCAR Awards Banquet, and it is held in Nashville, Tennessee in November of each year. The winner of the most awards is Bill Elliott with 16 in the NASCAR Cup Series. Elliott Sadler has the most with four awards in the Xfinity Series, and Johnny Benson Jr. has the most awards at three in the Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series. Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team o ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

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]  




Hubert Westmoreland
Hubert Westmoreland (January 28, 1915October 26, 2006) was a mechanic that became a car owner in the beginning of NASCAR. His role as a car owner ran from 1949 to 1964. In that time his cars were driven to four first -place finishes. His most notable victory was by Johnny Mantz, who drove his Plymouth (automobile), Plymouth to victory in the inaugural Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. His best finish at Daytona Beach Road Course was third, although when Mantz won the 1950 Southern 500, it was like winning the Daytona 500. Daytona International Speedway was not around until 1959. A few of the other drivers that drove his cars were: Curtis Turner, Tim Flock, Bill Holland, Jack Smith, Frankie Schneider, and Herb Thomas Herbert Watson Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion. Background Born in the small ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


1956 NASCAR Grand National Series
The 1956 NASCAR Grand National (now NASCAR Cup Series) Season began on November 13, 1955, and ended on November 18, 1956, lasting slightly longer than a full year. Driver Tim Flock was the defending champion, and started off with a win at the opening Hickory Speedway, but it was Buck Baker who captured the championship. Along with the trophies, Baker also collected $34,076.35 in prize money, and finished more than 400 points ahead of his closest competitor. Baker competed in 48 races throughout the 1956 season as Speedy Thompson and Herb Thomas rounded out the top three in points by the final race. Even though auto manufactures Chevrolet and Ford both contributed millions of dollars into their cars during the season, it was Carl Kiekhaefer's Chryslers and Dodges that dominated the season including a 16 win stretch through the summer months. 1956 Season Recap The season started on a somber note; as former driver Buddy Shuman died the night before the season started, in a Hi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Carl Kiekhaefer
Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer (June 4, 1906 – October 5, 1983) was the owner of ''Kiekhaefer Mercury'' (later Mercury Marine) and ''Kiekhaefer Aeromarine'' and also a two-time NASCAR championship car owner. Kiekhaefer Mercury founder Mr Kiekhaefer was born on June 4, 1906, in Mequon, Wisconsin, to Arnold and Clara Wessel Kiekhaefer. After graduating from Cedarburg High School, Kiekhaefer spent one year attending the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and later took extension courses from the University of Wisconsin that prepared him for a career in electrical engineering. In 1927 he briefly worked as a draftsman by Evinrude Motors before being fired for "...frequent, disquieting and brazenly insubordinate arguments concerning design and product development...". He was a young engineer right out of college when he received his first of his over 200 patents. He purchased an outboard motor manufacturing company in Cedarburg, Wisconsin in 1939, intending to make magnetic separators for ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Tim Flock
Julius Timothy Flock (May 11, 1924 – March 31, 1998) was an American stock car racer. He was a two-time NASCAR series champion. He was a brother to NASCAR's second female driver Ethel Mobley and Bob and Fonty Flock. NASCAR career Tim Flock finished 5th in NASCAR's inaugural Strictly Stock race at Charlotte, North Carolina in 1949; he drove an Oldsmobile 88 that he borrowed from his newlywed neighbors. NASCAR's first official season ended with Flock in eighth, his brother Fonty Flock in fifth, and his other brother Bob Flock in third in the overall points standings. Flock won his first official NASCAR race in 1950 at Charlotte. He ran 12 of 19 races and finished 16th in the final standings. In 1951, Flock won seven races. 1952 brought eight wins and four poles. At the end of the 1952 NASCAR season, Flock had 106 more points than Herb Thomas, earning Flock his first NASCAR Grand National Championship title, despite flipping in the final race at West Palm Beach. Flock late ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


1955 NASCAR Grand National Series
The 1955 NASCAR Grand National season began on November 7, 1954, and ended on October 30, 1955. Even though the season was resolved in the course of two different years, all NASCAR personnel were allowed to have their traditional two-month silly season that traditionally comes between mid-November and mid-February. Tim Flock won the 1955 championship by a margin of 1508 over top of Buck Baker. This season was unusual because of its 11-month season (as opposed to the current 10-month season format). As the ninth season of the series now known as the Cup Series, most of the drivers involved were still the first-generation race car drivers. They did not have any ties to the stock car racing world through their parents or grandparents although some of them served in World War II prior to their NASCAR careers. However, the generation that would gain notoriety and fame through nepotism (i.e., their father or older brother having a ride before them) would emerge about ten years later. Th ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Gary Drake
Gary may refer to: *Gary (given name), a common masculine given name, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name *Gary, Indiana, the largest city named Gary Places ;Iran *Gary, Iran, Sistan and Baluchestan Province ;United States *Gary (Tampa), Florida * Gary, Maryland *Gary, Minnesota *Gary, South Dakota *Gary, West Virginia *Gary – New Duluth, a neighborhood in Duluth, Minnesota *Gary Air Force Base, San Marcos, Texas * Gary City, Texas Ships * USS ''Gary'' (DE-61), a destroyer escort launched in 1943 * USS ''Gary'' (CL-147), scheduled to be a light cruiser, but canceled prior to construction in 1945 * USS ''Gary'' (FFG-51), a frigate, commissioned in 1984 * USS ''Thomas J. Gary'' (DE-326), a destroyer escort commissioned in 1943 People and fictional characters *Gary (surname), including a list of people with the name *Gary (rapper), South Korean rapper and entertainer *Gary (Argentine singer), Argentine singer of cuarteto songs Other uses *'' Gary: ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




1954 NASCAR Grand National Series
The 1954 NASCAR Grand National season consisted of 37 races from February 1, 1954, and to November 1. Lee Petty, driving for Petty Enterprises, won the championship, his first of three in the series. Season recap The 1954 season consisted of 37 events from February 7 through October 24 of the year; opening in West Palm Beach, Florida, with a Herb Thomas victory, and concluding in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina, at the North Wilkesboro Speedway with a Hershel McGriff win. While Thomas captured the opening event in a Hudson, the year was witness to the increased power of GM, Ford and Chrysler as Hudson slipped in its domination of the sport from previous years. Petty came back to win the second race of the year at Daytona Beach, Florida, in his Chrysler. Petty completed the season with 32 top-10 finishes of the 34 events that he competed in. Through 1953, and up until the Southern 500 in 1954, Petty strung together a streak of 56 consecutive races where he was still runnin ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


1953 NASCAR Grand National Series
The 1953 NASCAR Grand National Series began on February 1 and ended on November 1. Future NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Herb Thomas, driving his own No. 92 Hudson Hornet, won the championship and became the first repeat champion of the series. It is also the season with the most one-off races. 9 of the 37 races took place on racetracks that only held a cup race in the 1953 season. Season recap * Races marked with * took place exclusively in the 1953 season. Race summaries 1953-01 The first race of the 1953 season was run on February 1 at the Palm Beach Speedway in West Palm Beach, Florida. Dick Rathmann won the pole position. Top ten results #42- Lee Petty #41- Jimmie Lewallen #91- Tim Flock #1- Herschel Buchanan #86- Don Oldenberg #55- Bub King #60- Dub Livingston #13- Pop McGinnis #9- Donald Thomas (racing driver), Donald Thomas #67- Sam DiRusso 1953-02 The second race of the 1953 season was run on February 15 at the Daytona Beach Road Course in Daytona Beach, Florida ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Petty Enterprises
Petty Enterprises (formerly Lee Petty Engineering) was a NASCAR racing team based in Level Cross, North Carolina, USA. It was founded by Lee Petty with his two sons Richard Petty and Maurice Petty. The team was later owned by Richard Petty, his son Kyle Petty and Boston Ventures. At the time of its folding the team operated the No. 43 and No. 45 Dodge Chargers in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Petty Enterprises ran from 1949 until 2008. The team closed shop in January 2009 and merged with Gillett Evernham Motorsports after sponsorship could not be found for any of the cars in the Petty stable; the merged team took the name Richard Petty Motorsports, adopting a logo similar to that of Petty Enterprises' logo. In 2021, Richard Petty Motorsports became Petty GMS Motorsports. Petty Enterprises formerly held the title of winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series for 61 years, beginning in 1960 with a win by Lee Petty. At the time of the team's final victory, it totaled 268 wins in the s ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Lee Petty
Lee Arnold Petty (March 14, 1914 – April 5, 2000) was an American stock car racing driver who competed during the 1950s and 1960s. He was one of the pioneers of NASCAR and one of its first superstars. He was NASCAR's first three-time Cup champion. He is also the father of Richard Petty, who went on to become one of the most successful stock car racing drivers of all time. Career Petty was born near Randleman, North Carolina, the son of Jessie Maude (née Bell) and Judson Ellsworth Petty. He was thirty-five years old when he began racing. He participated in NASCAR's inaugural race, held at the three-quarter mile long dirt track, Charlotte Speedway; he raced in a 1948 Buick Roadmaster he borrowed from his neighbor under the assurance that the prize money earned from the race could pay off any damages to the car. With son Richard watching, Petty lost control of the car and rolled it in turn three. Basing on his earlier experience as an occasional moonshine runner, Petty woul ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

1952 NASCAR Grand National Series
The 1952 NASCAR Grand National Series was the fourth season of the premier stock car racing championship sanctioned by NASCAR. Once the season was concluded, driver Tim Flock was crowned the Grand National champion after winning 8 of the 33 events that he competed in. This was the first year that NASCAR scheduled its events to avoid the conflicts of having two races, at two different tracks, on the same day. The only exception was on June 1, when races were held at both Toledo Speedway in Ohio, and Hayloft Speedway in Augusta, Georgia. Herb Thomas finished second to Flock after competing in 32 races, and Lee Petty finished third in the standings that year. Throughout the 1952 season, a total of 261 drivers entered at least one of the 34 events. Virtually every American car manufacturer had at least one of their cars start that season. This was also the first season that sponsors such as Pure Oil Co (which later became Union 76, and eventually Unocal), and Champion Spark P ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]