William Ivey Blair (July 14, 1911 - November 2, 1995) was an American

stock car racing Stock car racing is a form of automobile racing run on oval tracks and road courses measuring approximately . It originally used production-model cars, hence the name "stock car", but is now run using cars specifically built for racing. It ori ...

driver in the 1940s and the 1950s, and he was one of the pioneers of

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 hi ...

Racing career

Blair started his racing career as a bootlegger in the 1930s. In 1939, he began racing at the newly-constructed High Point Speedway, and he opened his own track

Tri-City Speedway Tri-City Raceway Park (formerly known as Tri-City Speedway and Franklin Speedway) is a 1/2-mile dirt oval and a 3/8-mile track for karts, located in Oakland Township, Venango County, Pennsylvania, near the city of Franklin to the southwest. It ...

after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Blair won three NASCAR Strictly Stock/Grand National races: * June 18, 1950 – Blair piloted a 1950

Mercury Mercury commonly refers to: * Mercury (planet), the nearest planet to the Sun * Mercury (element), a metallic chemical element with the symbol Hg * Mercury (mythology), a Roman god Mercury or The Mercury may also refer to: Companies * Merc ...

owned by Sam Rice to victory in a race at Vernon Fairgrounds in

Vernon, NY Vernon is a town in Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 5,408 at the 2010 census. The Town of Vernon is on the western border of the county. The town contains a village, also named Vernon. History The first European se ...

. * April 20, 1952 – Blair drove a 1952

Oldsmobile Oldsmobile or formally the Oldsmobile Division of General Motors was a brand of American automobiles, produced for most of its existence by General Motors. Originally established as "Olds Motor Vehicle Company" by Ransom E. Olds in 1897, it produ ...

owned by George Hutchens to his second win at Lakewood Speedway in

Atlanta, GA Atlanta ( ) is the capital city, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georgia, Fulton County, the mos ...

. * February 15, 1953 – In his final series victory, Blair drove his 1953 Oldsmobile to victory lane at the

Beach & Road Course A beach is a landform alongside a body of water which consists of loose particles. The particles composing a beach are typically made from rock, such as sand, gravel, shingle, pebbles, etc., or biological sources, such as mollusc shells ...

Daytona Beach, FL Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County near the Atlantic coastline, its population was 72,647 at the 2020 census. Daytona Beach is approximately nort ...

Memorial

Blair,

Jimmie Lewallen Jimmie Lewallen (August 22, 1919 – October 16, 1995) was an American stock car racing driver from High Point, North Carolina, USA. He competed in NASCAR's Strictly Stock/Grand National division (now called the NASCAR Cup Series) from its f ...

, and

Fred Harb Fareed "Fred" Joseph Harb Jr. (June 14, 1930December 18, 2016) was an American stock car racing driver. The High Point, North Carolina resident made 144 NASCAR Grand National Series starts from 1955 to 1965, earning 13 top fives and 42 top tens. ...

are the subject of the independent movie ''

Red Dirt Rising ''Red Dirt Rising'' is a 2011 film starring Brad Yoder, Burgess Jenkins and Brett Rice based on the book ''Red Dirt Tracks: The Forgotten Heroes of Early Stockcar Racing'' by Gail Cauble Gurley telling the true story of race car driver Jimmie Lewal ...

"'' which is based on the book ''Red Dirt Tracks: The Forgotten Heroes of Early Stockcar Racing'' by Gail Cauble Gurley.Movie tells stories of race drivers and the community they live in
Jamie Kennedy Jones, July 15, 2007, ''

Greensboro News & Record The ''News & Record'' is an American, English language newspaper with the largest circulation serving Guilford County, North Carolina, and the surrounding region. It is based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and produces local sections for Greensbo ...

''; Retrieved December 24, 2007

References

External links

* 1911 births 1995 deaths NASCAR drivers Sportspeople from High Point, North Carolina Racing drivers from North Carolina {{NASCAR-bio-stub