Marvin Panch (May 28, 1926December 31, 2015) 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. Winner of the

1961 Daytona 500 The 1961 Daytona 500, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on February 26, 1961, at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Marvin Panch won the race in the one-year-old 1960 Pontiac built and owned by Smoke ...

and 1966 World 600, he won seventeen

NASCAR Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

events during a 17-year career.

Early career

Born in Menomonie,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, Panch relocated to California at an early age. He started his racing career as a car owner in

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

. One week, his driver did not show up, and he raced the car to a third-place finish. He won a championship and several races in six years, including five

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 ...

races on the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast, Pacific states, and the western seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the contiguous U.S ...

.Biography
at the

West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame The West Coast Stock Car Hall Of Fame is a Hall of Fame for people associated with late-model stock car racing on the West Coast of the United States. Many NASCAR Grand National Division, West Series champions are inducted in the Hall of Fame. The ...

, written 2002, Retrieved November 8, 2007

NASCAR career

He attempted his first

East Coast East Coast may refer to: Entertainment * East Coast hip hop, a subgenre of hip hop * East Coast (ASAP Ferg song), "East Coast" (ASAP Ferg song), 2017 * East Coast (Saves the Day song), "East Coast" (Saves the Day song), 2004 * East Coast FM, a ra ...

race at

Darlington Raceway Darlington Raceway is a race track built for NASCAR racing located in Darlington, South Carolina. It is nicknamed "The Lady in Black" and "The Track Too Tough to Tame" by many NASCAR fans and drivers and advertised as "A NASCAR Tradition." It is ...

in 1953.

founder

Bill France, Sr. William Henry Getty France (September 26, 1909 – June 7, 1992), also known as Bill France Sr. or Big Bill, was an American businessman and racing driver. He is best known for founding and managing NASCAR, a sanctioning body of US-based stock ca ...

convinced him to come east for 1954.

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 ch ...

invited Panch to race in the 1954 Darlington race, where he finished third. The finish impressed

Tom Horbison Tom or TOM may refer to: * Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name) Characters * Tom Anderson, a character in '' Beavis and Butt-Head'' * Tom Beck, a character ...

, who hired Panch to race his car during the 1955 season. His 1955 finishes caught the attention of

Pete DePaolo Pete DePaolo (April 6, 1898 – November 26, 1980) was an American race car driver who won the 1925 Indianapolis 500. Biography Peter DePaolo was born on April 6, 1898, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Pete saw his first race in 1919, where he w ...

, who hired Panch to race in his factory

Ford Ford commonly refers to: * Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford * Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river Ford may also refer to: Ford Motor Company * Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company * Ford F ...

team. Panch won his first NASCAR race on July 20, 1956, at

Montgomery Speedway Montgomery Motor Speedway is a half-mile (.805 km) oval race track just west of Montgomery, Alabama. It opened in 1953, and is the oldest operating race track in Alabama. It held six NASCAR Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand Nation ...

after starting on the

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 ...

and dominating the entire race. He won the two races in 1957 for DePaolo. He added another victory in April before Ford ended its factory support in the middle of the season. Panch joined the legendary

Holman-Moody Holman-Moody is an American racecar manufacturer, marine engine manufacturer and former auto racing team. The company currently operates out of Charlotte, North Carolina, but is no longer a race team. Holman-Moody continues to manufacture racing ...

team for the rest of the season. He won three more events in the season and finished second in the final points standings. The end of the Ford factory sponsorship hurt Panch's career. Over the next three seasons, he was only able to race in 24 races. He was offered a ride by famed NASCAR mechanic

Smokey Yunick Henry "Smokey" Yunick (May 25, 1923 – May 9, 2001) was an American professional stock car racing crew chief, owner, driver, engineer, engine builder, and car designer as well as being a pilot in the United States Army Air Corps in World W ...

in the 1961

Daytona 500 The Daytona 500 is a NASCAR Cup Series motor race held annually at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It is the first of two Cup races held every year at Daytona, the second being the Coke Zero Sugar 400, and one of three ...

. The car was a year old (1960)

Pontiac Pontiac may refer to: *Pontiac (automobile), a car brand *Pontiac (Ottawa leader) ( – 1769), a Native American war chief Places and jurisdictions Canada *Pontiac, Quebec, a municipality ** Apostolic Vicariate of Pontiac, now the Roman Catholic D ...

. Panch took the offer and won the 1961 Daytona 500 to put his career back on track. During the 1962 season he was offered a ride by renowned car owners the Wood Brothers. He accepted the ride in the Ford factory-sponsored team. Panch had eight wins and 30 top-three finishes in 69 races for the team. He stayed with the team from 1962 to March 27, 1966, when Ford had another dispute with NASCAR. In 1965,

A. J. Foyt Anthony Joseph Foyt Jr. (born January 16, 1935) is an American retired auto racing driver who has raced in numerous genres of motorsports. His open wheel racing includes United States Automobile Club Champ cars, sprint cars, and midget cars. H ...

finished the

Atlanta 500 The Quaker State 400 presented by Walmart is a NASCAR Cup Series stock car race that was run annually each March at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georgia from 1960 to 2010 and as a July race since 2021. The race was the first of two races ...

at Atlanta Motor Speedway in a car Panch had started, taking it to victory. Panch received credit for the win. In February 1963 Panch was involved in a fiery crash at Daytona and was pulled to safety by a fellow driver

Tiny Lund DeWayne Louis "Tiny" Lund (November 14, 1929 – August 17, 1975) was an American stock car racer. He was a journeyman racer-for-hire in the top level NASCAR Grand National Series, running partial seasons for a number of years, including a vict ...

. Lund was awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism and went on to win the 1963 Daytona 500 in the car that the injured Panch had been scheduled to drive. Lund said of Panch: "Marvin would have done the same for us." Panch was hired by Petty to race for Petty Enterprises for the 1966

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 ...

in a year old car. Panch won the race for his final career victory when Petty was his relief driver. Panch raced for Petty Enterprises until he announced his retirement after the

National 500 The Bank of America Roval 400 is a NASCAR Cup Series race that is held annually at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina, United States, with the other one being the Coca-Cola 600 on Memorial Day weekend, the race. As of the 201 ...

at Charlotte in October 1966.

Awards

Panch was named one of

NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers is an alphabetical list of NASCAR drivers. 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 dec ...

in 1998. He was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1987, and the

in its first class in 2002.

Personal life

His second wife Bettie founded the Women's Auxiliary of Motorsports. Panch is the father of four children: Pamela and Marvann, from his first marriage to Hester Herrald, and

Richard Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Frankish language, Old Frankish and is a Compound (linguistics), compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic language, Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' an ...

(deceased) and Marvette, from his second marriage to Bettie Gong. Following his Daytona 500 win, Panch purchased property in Port Orange, Florida, relocating there after the end of his career. On December 31, 2015, Panch was found unconscious in his car, and was later pronounced dead of natural causes.

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(

key Key or The Key may refer to: Common meanings * Key (cryptography), a piece of information that controls the operation of a cryptography algorithm * Key (lock), device used to control access to places or facilities restricted by a lock * Key (map ...

) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. ''Italics'' – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Grand National Series

=Daytona 500

References

External links

* *
Réplica del Histórico Auto
{{DEFAULTSORT:Panch, Marvin 1926 births 2015 deaths People from Menomonie, Wisconsin Sportspeople from Oakland, California Racing drivers from Wisconsin NASCAR drivers