Bill Dennis (born December 9, 1935) is an American 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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

driver and rookie of the year in the

Winston Cup Series The NASCAR Cup Series is the top racing series of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR), the most prestigious stock car racing series in the United States. The series began in 1949 as the Strictly Stock Division, and fro ...

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. He was given the

NASCAR Rookie of the Year The NASCAR Rookie of the Year Award is presented to the first-year driver that has the best season in a NASCAR season. Each of NASCAR's national and regional touring series selects a RotY winner each year. History of the Award The Rookie of the Y ...

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 ra ...

. 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 in NASCAR, 1960, was a ...

Accomplishments

Dennis won the Permatex 300 at Daytona three consecutive years (1972–1974), a feat matched only by

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

and

Dale Earnhardt Jr. Ralph Dale Earnhardt Jr. (born October 10, 1974) is an American professional stock car racing driver, team owner, and broadcaster. A third-generation driver, he is the son of the late 7-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Dale Earnhardt and relative ...

, and later surpassed by

Tony Stewart Anthony Wayne Stewart (born May 20, 1971), nicknamed "Smoke", is an American semi-retired professional auto racing driver, and former NASCAR team co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing. He currently competes in the NHRA Top Fuel class. He is a four-t ...

, 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 Tappahannock is the oldest town in Essex County, Virginia, United States. The population was 2,375 at the 2010 census, up from 2,068 at the 2000 census. Located on the Rappahannock River, Tappahannock is the county seat of Essex County. Its nam ...

References

External links

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