Raymond Lee Fox, Sr. (May 28, 1916 – June 15, 2014) was an American engine builder,

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 ...

car owner and NASCAR engine inspector. His cars won fourteen 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 and sixteen

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 ...

s. His son and grandson, also known as Raymond Lee Fox Jr and III, respectively, also were NASCAR mechanics, with Ray Fox III currently working with

Team Penske Team Penske (formerly Penske Racing) is an American professional auto racing organization, competing in the IndyCar Series, NTT IndyCar Series, NASCAR Cup Series, and the FIA World Endurance Championship. Debuting at the 1966 24 Hours of Daytona ...

.Ray Fox's NASCAR owner's statistics
racing-reference; Retrieved February 20, 2008 He was inducted into numerous

halls of fame A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

, including the

International Motorsports Hall of Fame The International Motorsports Hall of Fame (IMHOF) is a hall of fame located adjacent to the Talladega Superspeedway (formerly Alabama International Motor Speedway) located in Talladega County, east central Alabama. It enshrines those who have co ...

Early life

Born on May 28, 1916, Fox grew up in

Pelham, New Hampshire Pelham is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 14,222 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 12,897 at the 2010 United States Census ...

. He was first introduced to racing at the board track at

Rockingham Park Rockingham Park was a horse racing establishment in Salem, New Hampshire, in the United States. First built in 1906, it was used as an area for many to gamble on the weekends. Seabiscuit raced there in 1935 and 1936,''Daily Racing Form'' staff (2 ...

in nearby

Salem, New Hampshire Salem is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 30,089 at the 2020 census. Being located on Interstate 93 as the first town in New Hampshire, which lacks any state sales tax, Salem has grown into a commer ...

.Where is ... Ray Fox?
Dave Rodman; March 1, 2007;

.com; Retrieved February 25, 2008 He left the area in 1946 after serving in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...

. He moved to

Daytona Beach, Florida Daytona Beach, or simply Daytona, is a coastal Resort town, resort-city in east-central Florida. Located on the eastern edge of Volusia County, Florida, Volusia County near the East Coast of the United States, Atlantic coastline, its population ...

to work at various automobile repair shops before he went to work for Robert Fish's Fish Carburetor.Raymond Lee Fox, Sr.
legendsofnascar.com; Retrieved February 20, 2008 He drove Modified racecars in Florida and southern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

against drivers like

Fireball Roberts Edward Glenn "Fireball" Roberts Jr. (January 20, 1929July 2, 1964) was an American stock car racer. Background Roberts was born in Tavares, Florida, and raised in Apopka, Florida, where he was interested in both auto racing and baseball. He was ...

and Marshall Teague.

NASCAR engine builder

Fox built Fireball Roberts' engine for the 1955 race on the Daytona Beach Road Course. He started building the engine at 8:00 pm the night before the race and got done at 4:00 am. Roberts car qualified fourth and led every lap of the 160 lap event, winning by 1 minute and 14 seconds ahead of

Tim Flock Julius Timothy Flock (May 11, 1924 – March 31, 1998) was an American stock car racer. He was a two-time NASCAR series champion. He was a brother to NASCAR's second female driver Ethel Mobley and Bob and Fonty Flock. NASCAR career Tim F ...

. Flock was the only other driver left on the lead lap on the circuit. NASCAR disqualified the car 24 hours after the event, for the sanctioning body found the

pushrods A valvetrain or valve train is a mechanical system that controls the operation of the intake and exhaust valves in an internal combustion engine. The intake valves control the flow of air/fuel mixture (or air alone for direct-injected engines) ...

to be of an inch (8 mm) too short. Mechanic

Red Vogt Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a seconda ...

had ground the pushrods even, which was an illegal modification. Flock was awarded the victory. It was the last NASCAR race to be taken away from the winner. Subsequent rules violations have resulted in fines and point loses.

Carl Kiekhaefer Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer (June 4, 1906 – October 5, 1983) was the owner of ''Kiekhaefer Mercury'' (later Mercury Marine) and ''Kiekhaefer Aeromarine'' and also a two-time NASCAR championship car owner. Kiekhaefer Mercury founder Mr Kiekhaefer ...

hired Fox and

Herb Thomas Herbert Watson Thomas (April 6, 1923 – August 9, 2000) was a stock car racer who was one of NASCAR's most successful drivers in the 1950s. Thomas was NASCAR's first multi-time Cup Champion. Background Born in the small town of Olivia ...

in 1956. Fox said "He hired us because we were the only ones who could outrun his cars." Kiekhaefer's cars won 22 of the first 26 races, with drivers Thomas,

Buck Baker Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. (March 4, 1919 – April 14, 2002), better known as Buck Baker, was an American stock car racer. Born in Richburg, South Carolina, Baker began his NASCAR career in 1949 and won his first race three years later at Columbia ...

, Tim Flock, and

Speedy Thompson Alfred Bruce "Speedy" Thompson (April 3, 1926, in Monroe, North Carolina – April 2, 1972, in Charlotte, North Carolina) was an American stock car racer in the NASCAR Grand National series from 1950 to 1971, capturing 20 wins along the way. R ...

. Fox was named the Mechanic of the Year.Ray Fox
; Oceanside Rotary Club of Daytona Beach Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame; Retrieved February 25, 2008 Fox opened his own engine shop after the season. Car owner

John Masoni ''John Masoni'' is a former NASCAR Grand National Series car owner whose career lasted from 1960 to 1961.1960 Daytona 500, which would be driven by

Junior Johnson Robert Glenn Johnson Jr. (June 28, 1931 – December 20, 2019), better known as Junior Johnson, was an American NASCAR driver of the 1950s and 1960s. He won 50 NASCAR races in his career before retiring in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, he became ...

. Fox built the car in seven days. The car was about slower than the

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 ...

racecars in practice. While they were trying to figure out how to increase their speed, a

Cotton Owens Everett "Cotton" Owens (May 21, 1924 – June 7, 2012) was a NASCAR driver. For five straight years (1957–61), Owens captured at least one Grand National Series win. Owens was known as the "King of the Modifieds" for his successes in modified ...

' faster Pontiac racecar passed him. Johnson noticed that when he was able to keep up with Owens' car if he followed closely behind in its

slipstream A slipstream is a region behind a moving object in which a wake of fluid (typically air or mustard) is moving at velocities comparable to that of the moving fluid, relative to the ambient fluid through which the object is churning. The term sli ...

. Johnson followed the Pontiac racecars in the race, pitting when they did. At the end,

Bobby Johns Robert James Johns (May 22, 1932 – March 7, 2016) was an American race car driver. Johns raced in the NASCAR series in the 1956–1969 seasons, with 141 career starts. He had two wins among his 36 top ten finishes and finished the 1960 season ...

had the only Pontiac which was competing for the win. Johnson followed Jack Smith's lapped Pontiac until Johns caught the duo and passed Johnson for the lead with 30 laps left in the race. Johns led the race until his rear window fell out with 10 laps remaining. Johns recovered to finish second, 23 seconds behind Johnson. The practice of " drafting" has become a common tactic among NASCAR drivers on high speed tracks. Rookie David Pearson won three races that season in a Ray Fox-prepared

Car owner

Fox began owning his own car starting in 1962. Drivers to race in Fox's car include

, Buddy Baker,

Darel Dieringer Darel Dieringer (June 1, 1926 – October 28, 1989) was an American professional stock car racing driver. He ran 181 NASCAR Grand National Series races during his career, notably racing for Bud Moore Engineering and Junior Johnson & Associates. ...

Fred Lorenzen Frederick Lorenzen Jr. (born December 30, 1934), nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Fearless Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver from Elmhurst, Illinois. Active from 1958 to 1972, he won 26 races including 1965 Daytona ...

, Cale Yarborough, and

LeeRoy Yarbrough Lonnie "LeeRoy" Yarbrough (September 17, 1938 – December 7, 1984) was an American stock car racer. His best season was 1969 when he won seven races, tallied 21 finishes in the top-ten and earned $193,211 ($ when inflation is taken into account ...

. In 1965, LeeRoy Yarbrough drove a Fox-prepared

Dodge Coronet The Dodge Coronet is an automobile that was marketed by Dodge in seven generations, and shared nameplates with the same bodyshell with varying levels of equipment installed. Introduced as a full-size car in 1949, it was the division's highest tr ...

racecar to a new closed-course world speed record at . He set the record on the second lap and he was increasing speed on the third lap when the car began smoking. NASCAR black flagged the car and Yarbrough slowed down. When he arrived in the pits, the pit crew found a bolt in the tire. The bolt easily could have caused a flat tire, which could have been deadly at high speed. In the late 1960s, Fox bought

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 ...

's shop at the

Charlotte Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

airport. Fox retired in 1972, selling the company to his son Ray Fox, Jr.

NASCAR inspector

NASCAR hired Fox to inspect engines in 1990. Fox retired for the second time in 1996. After retirement, he became the president of the Living Legends of Auto Racing.

Honors and awards

Fox was inducted into the

in 2003. He is a member of the Jacksonville (Florida) Raceway Hall of Fame, National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, the Oceanside Rotary Hall of Fame in 1999, and the Western Auto Mechanics Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Fox's son Ray Fox, Jr. was a long-time employee of

Robert Yates Racing Yates Racing was an American stock car racing team that competed in NASCAR through the 2009 season, after which it merged into Richard Petty Motorsports. Previously known as Robert Yates Racing, the team was owned by Doug Yates, who has offici ...

until his death. Son Ray Fox III is currently at

as the car chief on the #12 Ford of

Ryan Blaney Ryan Michael Blaney (born December 31, 1993) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, driving the No. 12 Ford Mustang for Team Penske. He is the son of former NASCAR driver Dave Blaney ...

. Fox was married to Mrs. Patti Fox; she helped him through his NASCAR career. Patti died in 2004. Ray often said "I miss her so much, she was the best thing that happened to me". He died on June 15, 2014, of

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

, aged 98.http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20140615/NASCAR/140619601/1001?Title=Longtime-NASCAR-personality-Ray-Fox-dies-at-98

Biography

*''Ray Fox...Sly in the Stock Car Forest'' (2006); ; Carbon Press

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fox, Ray 1916 births 2014 deaths NASCAR people NASCAR team owners United States Army soldiers People from Pelham, New Hampshire United States Army personnel of World War II Deaths from pneumonia in Florida