NASCAR’S 50 GREATEST DRIVERS
OF THE FIRST 50 YEARS
Reprinted by permission of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing
Curtis Turner won seventeen NASCAR Winston Cup races and in 1956 won twenty-two races in the NASCAR Convertible Division.
Herb Thomas won forty-nine NASCAR Winston Cup races and was the first driver to win two season championships (1951 and 1953).
Tim Flock won two NASCAR Winston Cup season championships and his eighteen wins
for Chrysler in 1955 stood as a record for a dozen seasons.
Red Byron won championships in NASCAR’s first two seasons - in Modifieds in
1948 and NASCAR Winston Cup in 1949.
Buck Baker won forty-six NASCAR Winston Cup races and was the first driver to win
back-to-back series championships (1967-1957).
Lee Petty was the first three-time winner of the NASCAR Winston Cup
Series season
championship.
Glenn “Fireball” Roberts had four wins and five poles in the first ten races at Daytona International
Speedway.
Junior Johnson won fifty NASCAR Winston Cup races as a driver and six NASCAR
Winston Cup titles as an owner.
Joe Weatherly the 1953 NASCAR Modified Division champ, won the NASCAR
Winston Cup title in 1962 and 1963.
Rex White won twenty-six races and the 1060 championship during his NASCAR
Winston Cup career.
Ray Hendrick ranks among NASCAR’s all-time great short-track drivers with more
than 500 wins in Modified and Late Model Sportsman Divisions.
Ralph Earnhardt won hundreds of career short-track races and the NASCAR
Late Model Sportsman title in 1956.
Cotton Owens won more than 400 Modified and Late Model Sportsman races
before becoming a successful car owner in the 1960’s.
Marshall Teague was a pioneer who posted seven NASCAR Winston Cup wins as
he battled for early NASCAR driving supremacy.
Marvin Panch, the 1961 winner of the Daytona 500, won seventeen career
NASCAR Winston Cup races, including eight from 1963-1965 for the Wood Brothers.
Red Farmer won three straight NASCAR Late Model Sportman Division titles
(1969-71) plus 1956 NASCAR Modified Division.
Glen Wood won hundreds of short-track races before capturing four NASCAR Winston
Cup wins and then joining brother Leonard to win ninety-two races as owners.
A. J. Foyt broke from his IndyCar schedule to win seven NASCAR Winston
Cup races, including the 1972 Daytona 500.
Fred Lorenzen was the first NASCAR driver to win more than $100,000 in a
season and won twenty-six NASCAR Winston Cup races.
Bob Welborn won twenty races and three straight NASCAR Convertible
Division titles from 1955-1957 as well as seven NASCAR Winston Cup races in his career.
Bobby Isaac, the 1970 NASCAR Winston Cup champion, earned thirty-seven wins and
fifty-one poles at NASCAR’s top level.
Jerry Cook won six NASCAR Modified Division championships in a seven-year
span (1971-72, 1974-77).
Jack Ingram (left) won three straight NASCAR Late Model Sportsman
Division championships (1972-74) and two NASCAR Busch Series titles (1982 and 1985).
Harry Gant (right) was the oldest driver to win a NASCAR Winston Cup race, he was
fifty-two, and once won four straight races.
Tiny Lund won four NASCAR Grand American crowns as well as the 1963
Daytona 500.
LeeRoy Yarbrough swept the Daytona 500, World 600 and Southern 500 in
1969 before there was a $1million bonus for the feat.
Benny Parsons launched his NASCAR Winston Cup career after driving taxis in
Detroit and won twenty-one races and the 1973 title.
Herschel McGriff has won NASCAR races in the last six decades and won the
Mexican Road Race in 1950 .
Richard Petty won a record 200 NASCAR Winston Cup races en route to seven
season championship titles.
Ned Jarrett won two season titles in both the NASCAR Winston Cup and Late Model
Sportsman Divisions.
Tim Richmond came to the NASCAR Winston Cup Series after an IndyCar career and
won thirteen races.
Buddy Baker the first driver to officially break the 200 mph mark, earned
nineteen career NASCAR Winston Cup wins.
Richie Evans won a record nine NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour titles,
including eigh straight (1978-85).
Cale Yarborough won eighty-three racesf and is the only driver to win
three straight NASCAR Winston Cup championships (1976-78).
Alan Kulwicki won five career NASCAR Winston Cup races as well as the
1992 series title by just ten points, the closest margin in history.
Bobby Allison, the 1964 and 1965 NASCAR Modified champ, won eighty-four
NASCAR Winston Cup races and the 1983 series championship.
Davey Allison won in just his fourteenth career start and went on to win
eighteen more times in his brief but brilliant NASCAR Winston Cup career.
Neil Bonnett was a short-track star who, as a member of the Alabama gang,
won eighteen times during his NASCAR Winston Cup career.
Geoff Bodine, like many before him, starred in the NASCAR Modified ranks before starting a NASCAR Winston Cup career in which he won eighteen times.
Rusty Wallace, who has forty-seven NASCAR Winston Cup wins, won the 1989
season championship and twice finished second.
Mark Martin, the all-time winner on the NASCAR Busch Series tour, posted
twenty-two wins in his stellar NASCAR Winston Cup career.
David Pearson ranks second in NASCAR Winston Cup wins (105) and poles (113). He also won three season titles.
Darrell Waltrip won eighty-four NASCAR Winston Cup races, including
forty-three and three titles driving for Junior Johnson.
Dale Jarrett has won fifteen NASCAR Winston Cup races, including two
Daytona 500s and was series runner-up in 1997.
Ricky Rudd won at least one NASCAR Winston Cup race a year for fifteen
straight seasons, including four as an owner-driver.
Bill Elliott, the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champ, has forty career wins,
including eleven and the Winston Milion in 1985.
Ernie Irvan won short-track titles on both the East and West Coasts
before moving to a NASCAR Winston Cup career in which he captured fifteen wins.
Dale Earnhardt equalled Richard Petty’s record of seven NASCAR Winston
Cup Series championships.
Jeff Gordon won twenty-seven races and two NASCAR Winston Cup
championships between 1995-97.
Terry Labonte has started more consecutive races than anyone in NASCAR Winston Cup history, winning two Series titles (1984
and 1996).
AREA ORGANIZATION LISTINGS
Antique Automobile Club of America
Volusia Region
19 Sandusky Road, South Daytona, FL 32119
Auto Racing Legends
P.O. Box 10318, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-0318
Cold Tail Pipe Society
116 Balsa St., Bunnell, FL 32110
Corvette Cruisers of Greater Daytona Beach
2671 John Anderson Drive, Ormond Beach, FL 32176
Daytona Antique Auto Racing Association, Inc.
879 Ponderosa Dr., South Daytona, FL 32119
Daytona Beach Racing and Recreational Facilities District
P.O. Box 1958, Daytona Beach, FL 32115-1958
Daytona Beach Street Rods
2050 Brian Avenue, South Daytona, FL 32119
Living Legends of Auto Racing
1432 Golfview Road, Daytona Beach FL 32114
Model A Restorer’s Club
Cranking A’s Region
4221 Oriole Ave., Wilbur-by-the-Sea, FL 32127
Motor Racing Heritage Association, Inc.
P.O. Box 10953, Daytona Beach, FL 32120-0953
National Association for Stock Car Racing
1801 West International Speedway Boulevard
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
Oceanside Rotary Club
P.O. Box 4011, South Daytona, FL 32121
Wheels in Motion
P.O. Box 1656, Flagler Beach FL 32136
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