Donald Thomas (July 10, 1932 – December 16, 1977) was an American professional
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. The younger brother of
Herb Thomas, he made 79
NASCAR Grand National Series starts, scoring one win and one pole position.
Racing career
Thomas'
NASCAR Grand National Series career spanned from his season in 1950 with age of 17 to 1956 with age of 23, although the bulk of his starts came between 1951 and 1954. Thomas won the season's penultimate contest in 1952, capturing the checkered flag at
Lakewood Speedway, taking the lead from his brother Herb in the closing stages of the race after the latter ran into mechanical trouble. In doing so, he became NASCAR's youngest winner, a record that stood until
Kyle Busch
Kyle Thomas Busch (born May 2, 1985) is an American professional stock car racing driver and team owner. He currently competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing and part-t ...
's 2005 triumph at
Auto Club Speedway
Auto Club Speedway, originally opened as California Speedway, is a , low-banked, D-shaped oval superspeedway in unincorporated San Bernardino County, California, near Fontana. It has hosted NASCAR racing annually since 1997. It was also previ ...
.
Personal life
Thomas' childhood was spent on the family tobacco farm.
He was married and had two sons and two daughters.
He died in December 1977 and was buried near his home in
Sanford, North Carolina.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Donald
1932 births
1977 deaths
Burials in North Carolina
NASCAR drivers
Racing drivers from North Carolina
People from Harnett County, North Carolina