Bill Dennis (born December 9, 1935) is a former

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 ...

driver and rookie of the year in the

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the NASCAR, National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and from 1950 to 1970 it was known as the Grand National Division. ...

Racing career

Dennis made his debut at age 26 at the 1962 Capital City 300 in the No. 98 and finished 15th. After three part-time seasons, he attempted a full-time schedule in 1970 and he had five Top 10 finishes for

Donlavey Racing Donlavey Racing was a stock car racing team that competed from 1950 until 2002 in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. It was owned by Junie Donlavey and ran a total of 863 races in NASCAR. Donlavey Racing used a number of makes and numbers, but for yea ...

. He was given the NASCAR Rookie of the Year award in 1970. He competed full-time for the last time during the following season for Donlavey and had ten Top 10 finishes and a

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the rac ...

. In 1972 he competed for three teams and earned two Top 5 finishes. He competed in a few races until his last start came in the 1981

World 600 The Coca-Cola 600, originally the World 600, is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, on a Sunday during Memorial Day weekend. The first race, held in 1960, was also the first on ...

Accomplishments

Dennis won the Permatex 300 at

Daytona Daytona refers to the city of Daytona Beach, Florida, or things named after it. Daytona may also refer to: Locations * Daytona Beach Shores, Florida * South Daytona, Florida * The Daytona Beach metropolitan area * Halifax area, also known as Da ...

three consecutive years (1972–1974), a feat matched only by

Dale Earnhardt Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr. (; April 29, 1951February 18, 2001) was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably dri ...

and

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, team owner, author, and an analyst for ''NASCAR on NBC''. He currently competes part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving t ...

, and later surpassed by

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed Smoke, is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver, current NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, and current co-owner of the Superstar Racing Experience. He is a ...

, who won four consecutive from 2008 to 2011.

Personal life

Bill's son Ricky Dennis is the founder of Arena Racing USA and also a former stock car driver. He was born in Las Vegas, Nevada but was raised and lived in Tappahannock, Virginia.

References

External links

* 1935 births Living people NASCAR drivers People from Henrico County, Virginia Racing drivers from Virginia {{NASCAR-bio-stub