Nord Krauskopf (January 26, 1922 – August 3, 1986) was a

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 ...

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. ...

race car owner whose career spanned from

1966 Events January * January 1 – In a coup, Colonel Jean-Bédel Bokassa takes over as military ruler of the Central African Republic, ousting President David Dacko. * January 3 – 1966 Upper Voltan coup d'état: President Maurice Yaméogo i ...

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

. He was the owner of

K&K Insurance K&K Insurance is an Indiana-based insurance company noted for its coverage of motor sports. It was started in Fort Wayne, Indiana in 1952 by Nord Krauskopf and his wife Theodora (Teddi) Murdock to manage and market a benevolent fund for injured ...

and a part of the business since its foundation in 1952. This was a position that he kept in the corporate world while having a second career in the motorsports industry as a car owner. This dual role lasted until the 1970s when he left the NASCAR circuit to focus on running his insurance company. His team would field mostly

Dodge Charger The Dodge Charger is a model of automobile marketed by Dodge in various forms over seven generations since 1966. The first Charger was a show car in 1964. A 1965 Charger II concept car resembled the 1966 production version. The Charger has ...

s and

Dodge Daytona The Dodge Daytona is an automobile which was produced by the Chrysler Corporation under their Dodge division from 1984 until 1993. It was a front-wheel drive hatchback based on the Chrysler G platform, which was derived from the Chrysler K pla ...

s to the Cup Series races.

Career

He was known for employing veteran NASCAR drivers like

Bobby Allison Robert Arthur Allison (born December 3, 1937) is a former American professional stock car racing driver and owner. Allison was the founder of the Alabama Gang, a group of drivers based in Hueytown, Alabama, where there were abundant short track ...

Charlie Glotzbach Charles Lee Glotzbach (June 19, 1938 – April 23, 2021) was an ARCA and NASCAR Winston Cup Series driver. He holds one of the oldest race records in NASCAR. He has the record for fastest pace at Bristol Motor Speedway for a NASCAR race. He was ...

Bobby Isaac Robert Vance Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most ...

Sam McQuagg Samuel "Sam" McQuagg (November 11, 1937 – January 3, 2009) was an American former NASCAR Rookie of the Year driver. He died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 71. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anni ...

, and

Dave Marcis David Alan Marcis (born March 1, 1941) is an American former professional stock car racing driver on the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit whose career spanned five decades. Marcis won five times over this tenure, twice at Richmond, including his final ...

. Krauskopf has seen his drivers participate in 345 races with 43 victories (first victory at the

1968 Columbia 200 The 1968 Columbia 200 was a NASCAR Grand National Series stock car race that was held on April 18, 1968, at Columbia Speedway in Columbia, South Carolina. Background Columbia Speedway was an oval racetrack located in Cayce, a suburb of Columbia ...

– last victory at the

1976 Dixie 500 The 1976 Dixie 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race that took place on November 7, 1976, at Atlanta International Raceway in Hampton, Georgia, United States. Background Atlanta International Raceway (now Atlanta Motor Speedway) is one of ten ...

), 171 finishes in the "top five," and 214 finishes in the "top ten." These drivers also managed to lead 15,705 laps out of 90,001 while finishing 12th place on average. Krauskopf also become one of the first

millionaire A millionaire is an individual whose net worth or wealth is equal to or exceeds one million units of currency. Depending on the currency, a certain level of prestige is associated with being a millionaire. In countries that use the short scal ...

s in NASCAR history by collecting a grand total of $1,225,994 in his 12-year career ($ when adjusted for inflation) while his employees drove of racing action. He would also see his drivers go to 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 ...

69 times. A major part of Krauskopf's career would be Bobby Isaac's championship victory during the

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli intensity of X (''Extrem ...

NASCAR Winston Cup Season. The constant changes of NASCAR in the 1970s would render Krauskopf's team uncompetitive, and mid-way through the 1976 race season he put his racing team and its assets (shops, cars, etc.) on the market and then sold it to coal mining magnate

Jim Stacy James D. Stacy (March 27, 1930October 12, 2016), frequently referred to as Jim Stacy or J.D. Stacy, was an American entrepreneur and former NASCAR Winston Cup Series race car owner whose career spanned 1977 to 1983. His first race as an owner was ...

. As a result, he would constantly be at odds with NASCAR officials. Krauskopf retired in 1980 as chairman and owner of K&K Insurance Group. He sold his ownership share of the company in 1984. He died in 1986.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Krauskopf, Nord 1922 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American businesspeople Businesspeople from Indiana Insurance underwriters NASCAR team owners Sportspeople from Fort Wayne, Indiana