Lennie Pond is a former NASCAR race driver. He was born on the 11th of August 1940 in the small town of Ettrick in Chesterfield County, Virginia. He started his seventeen year NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career in 1969 when he made his debut in the American 500 at Rockingham Speedway on the 26th of October 1969. He started in thirty eighth position in a field of forty cars and finished thirty fourth after trouble with the engine whilst driving the #44 Chevrolet for the Giachetti Brothers team. Lennie had his second ride in 1970 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving for the Joe Phipps team in the #65 Chevrolet; he started at thirty seventh and finished thirty fourth after encountering gear problems. His next foray into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series was not until 1973 when he drove the #54 Chevrolet, owned by Ronnie Elder and sponsored by Master Chevy Sales. He raced in twenty three of a possible twenty eight races and in his first race, at Richmond International Raceway; he finished in seventh position, giving him his first career Top 10 result. Throughout the season he finished with his first career Top 5 and a further eight Top 10 finishes, an excellent result with all but one finish in the Top 10. Out of the twenty three possible races Lennie had thirteen DNF (did not finish) results as he encountered some kind of mechanical problem with the car in nine races and did not finish in four races in four events through involvement in crashes. Nevertheless Lennie did enough to gain the coveted 1973 “Rookie of the year” honours after a closely fought competition for the title against newcomer, Darrell Waltrip. After winning the award Lennie said, ,” I knew if they (NASCAR) went on performance alone, I would win it. Since they did, I’m very thankful.”
The following year, 1974, Lennie again drove the #54 for Ronnie Elder when he took part in twenty two events out of a possible thirty. He gained a further five Top 5’s together with eleven Top 10 finishes. In 1975 he finished second in both of the races at Richmond International Raceway, narrowly missing winning the race in the Autumn Richmond International Raceway event through a long pit stop. He led in all of the laps from lap 195 to lap 375 before he had to stop to have a tyre changed. The crew had a problem changing his rear right tyre and when he was coming out of the pit he was black-flagged for having a missing lug. The delay cost him the race, he tried to make up the time but was pipped to the post by Darrell Waltrip by mere seconds. He was hired by Harry Ranier in 1978. He missed the first race at Riverside International Raceway, he finished tenth in the Daytona 500 and the following week he led four times for 142 laps and looked to be the winner at Richmond International Raceway in the Richmond 400 but, as luck would have it, he suffered a flat tyre whilst in the lead and with only seventy seven laps to go he returned to the race, trailing behind Benny Parsons by just twenty four seconds. Lennie’s car was faster but he ran out of time and laps, finishing 2.6 seconds after Benny. That first place victory was still eluding him, this was his seventeenth career runner-up position.
Lennie had heard through the grapevine that Harry Ranier was going to release him at the end of the season and hire Darrell Waltrip in his place. Perhaps spurred on with this in mind he went to the event at the Talladega Superspeedway and, after a record sixty seven lead changes in the race, Lennie took the final lead with just five laps to go and driving at a then world record speed of 174.7 mph he held off Donnie Allison to take his first victory of his career. Lennie said after the race, celebrating his victory, “when this race started, I felt like I had the weight of the world on my shoulders, I’ve gone through a lot of miserable days lately. I’ve heard the talk that I can’t drive the superspeedways. I hope all that ends now.” This year, 1978, Lennie won his first five career poles, eleven Top 5’s and nineteen Top 10 positions and finished in seventh position in the final point standings despite missing two races. Lennie was released at the end of the season and unfortunately that was the last time he drove for a top team. Over the next seven years Lennie drove limited schedules for various car owners.
Before retiring Lennie raced his last race on the 10th of September 1989 at Richmond International Raceway in the Miller High Life 400 where he finished in 11th place. During his NASCAR career Lennie had one win, thirty nine Top 5’s and 88 Top 10’s. He also had 5 poles. Today he is working for Heritage Chevrolet, selling cars, a job that he loves – second to racing.
“The Gunslinger”, Mike Skinner was born on the 28th June, 1957 in Susanville, California. His love of racing didn’t start in the same way as many NASCAR race car drivers who started driving go-karts at very young age. His beginnings were very different. Being a young teenager he was well known as being a pool hustler and a rebel. In 1975 fate decided to take a hand in shaping his future. Mike was driving his 1971 Plymouth Road Runner when he had a crash and ended up wrecking his car. Instead of scrapping the car it was suggested by a friend that Mike bought it back from the insurance company, fixed it and used it to race at the local dirt tracks. To be a race car driver had not crossed his mind before this chance remark.
His first foray into the sport was at the local dirt track at the Lassen County Fairgrounds where he was doing rather well for himself, leading for most of the race then, with a half of a lap lead towards the white flag the front right hand ball joint broke as he was coming out of turn two. His car flipped over three times before coming to a stand still on its roof. Undeterred Mike got out of the car and kicked it and, wearing only cowboy boots at the time, received a broken toe for his efforts. He loved the sport so, to make ends meet, Mike worked at his day job as a well driller and repaired and raced cars at night. With his natural ability for driving he notched up three championships in the late 1970’s. Mike was also entering various events throughout the state and eventually, in 1983, his then wife said to him, “Either be a professional race car driver or well driller”! Not having to be told twice Mike moved with his family to North Carolina to chase his dreams of becoming a NASCAR race driver, the most important one was to one day race in the Daytona 500. It was not easy to get a ride but he was prepared to work his way up through the ranks, starting with Petty Enterprises and, new to the business, Rusty Wallace as a crew member.
It wasn’t until 1986 that he made his debut in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, driving the #19 Pontiac for Zanworth Racing. He had his best finish at 22nd in just three starts. He made his debut at Darlington Raceway in the Nationwide Series in 1986. He drove the #0 Hunt Tire Oldsmobile and came in at 27th. He didn’t compete in NASCAR races again until 1990, at North Carolina Speedway, when he drove the #13 Glidden Paints Buick for Mansion Motorsports but his car had back end problems and he finished in 35th position. He had four races for over the next couple of years and one race in 1993. He won almost 50% of his late model races and Mike was asked to race late models for Gene Petty in 1994, gained a local track championship at Carraway Speedway and he started racing in the Nationwide Series, driving the #88 for Gene Petty. He won one pole position in the Kentucky Fried Chicken Chevrolet but failed to actually finish a race.
His strength obviously lay in racing the Late Models and after winning several events he caught the attention of Richard Childress Racing and was chosen to race in the inaugural season of the new NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 1995. Mike nearly turned down the offer because he didn’t want to drive trucks he wanted to race cars then he realised who had asked him Richard Childress Racing, the opportunity of a lifetime! He won the first race of the series and collected seven more wins as he made his way to winning the first championship in the series. The following year he had another eight victories and was 3rd in the overall point standings. He also ran in five races in the Sprint Cup Series for Richard Childress Racing where he qualified in the top 10 three times. Mike also sat in for Dale Earnhardt while Dale recovered from injuries from a crash. Mike was promoted to full-time driver in the Sprint Cup Series in 1997, driving the #31 with Lowe’s sponsorship, claiming poles at both of the Daytona events and three Top 10 finishes. Despite being forced to sit out three of his races through injury and failing to quality in one race he won the coveted “Rookie of the Year “Honours. The following year he gained nine Top 10’s and two exhibition victories in Japan when NASCAR raced in Asia for the first time since its inception. In 2004 Toyota said that it wanted to join NASCAR and Mike began racing the #42 Toyota Tundra for Bang, returning to his favourite series, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Mike is the only driver to run in every event of the Series since its entry into NASCAR. Mike has had many victories, pole positions and awards in this series. Mike has had thirty-nine Top 10 finishes and six pole positions in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series but winning a race seems to elude him and started to be known as “the Best Winston Cup Driver Who Had Not Won A Race Yet”!
Mike holds a yearly charity event called “The Toyota Skinner Roundup”. This is a charity that raises money for charities in the Daytona Beach area. Fans, celebrities and sponsors all come out for music, golf, poker in an effort to raise funds for many good causes. After the great success of “The Round Up”, he and wife, Angela created their own foundation called “The Skinner Roundup for Charity” to continue growth of giving for their communities. Mike also assists various drivers and teams as a Driver Coach to mentor young talent to fulfil the dream he discovered in the sport of NASCAR racing.
“The Gentleman Racer”, Pete Hamilton was born in the city of Newton, Massachusetts and was born on the 20th July 1942. He has always had a love of cars and this love was heightened when he started working in a service station after school when he was in the third grade at school. He first started racing stock cars in 1962 at the Norwood Arena at the age of nineteen. He moved up to Hobby Stocks and a few other divisions before trying his hand in the Modified Division. By 1965 Pete had become the Thompson’s World Series Twin 50’s Champion and went on to win the NASCAR National Sportsman Championship in 1967 driving the #69 car owned by Worcester Sand and Gravel.
At the end of the 1967 season Pete decided to move down south and take a shot at the NASCAR Grand National “Rookie of the Year” honours. In his third start, the Tidewater 259 at Langley Field Speedway he finished fifth and later that year he came in second behind Richard Petty at the Smoky Mountain Raceway at Maryville, Tennessee. He competed in sixteen out of a possible forty nine events. In his debut year he earned himself three Top 5 and six Top 10 finishes, was ranked at thirty two in the final point standings and won the coveted 1968 “Rookie of the Year” honours. The following year, 1969 he won twelve out of twenty six Grand American Division, a division for smaller cars such as the Pontiac Firebird and the Chevrolet Camaro, events and won the series championship.
More success was to follow in 1970 when he had his greatest victory, after starting in ninth position he went on to win the Daytona 500 whilst driving the #40 Superbird for Petty Enterprises. He won both of the events that he entered at the Talladega Superspeedway, the Alabama 500 and the Talladega 500 and had his fourth victory for the year at Daytona International Speedway driving for Cotton Owens. This was to be his final career victory on the super speedways. For the 1970season Pete made sixteen starts and recorded four victories, one pole, ten Top 5’s and twelve Top 10’s driving Plymouth Superbirds. Pete was the first driver to win $100,000 on a super speedway in a single season. Towards the end of the season Chrysler/Dodge pulled its financial support from NASCAR and this meant that Petty Enterprises could no longer afford to field all of the intended cars and unfortunately Pete’s #40 was not in the allocated budget so Pete lost his ride.
In 1971 driving the #6 Plymouth for Cotton Owens, he won his Daytona Twin 125 qualifier but engine failure prevented Pete from taking part in the Daytona 500. He qualified on the pole for the Yankee 400 at Michigan International Speedway but once again engine failure prevented him from completing the race. Qualifying again on the pole for the Teas 500 at College Station in Texas the engine held out and Pete finished in fourth position. He had six engine failures during the 1971 season but despite this he still managed to record two poles, eleven Top 5’s and twelve Top 10’s in twenty two starts.
Although he was at the pinnacle of his career Pete retired from full time racing at the end of the 1971 season as he had a recurring problem with a neck injury that he sustained in a 1969 Grand American race. Driving the #5 Plymouth in five events for Housby Racing in 1972 Pete had three engine failures, crashed in the fourth and finally went on to finish fifth in the American 500 at Rockingham in North Carolina, recording his only Top 5 for the year. In 1973 Pete entered into two events, lost an engine in both and failed to score a Top 10 finish.
He retired from racing that year and started up a successful car building business. He did return in 1975 to run the Rattler 100 at the Twin City Speedway (now the South Alabama Speedway. He set a new track record of 16.50 when he qualified and then dominated the race to go on to victory. Pete made 64 NASCAR Grand National (now Nextel Cup) starts with impressive results. He scored 33 Top Ten finishes, 26 Top Fives, and 4 Wins along with 3 Pole Positions. Pete and his wife, Suzy, now live part of the year in the Florida Keys where they enjoy water sports such as diving, snorkelling and boating and the summer months are spent in Maine.
Richard Allen Craven, Ricky as he is known, is a NASCAR driver who has won races in four different categories, the K & N Pro Series, the NASCAR Sprint Car Series, the NASCAR Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Ricky was born on the 24th of May, 1966 and was raised in the town of Newburgh, Maine. His racing career began at the age of fifteen when he won twice in his first year, together with the “Rookie of the Year” honours at Unity Raceway. The following year he won twelve times as well as the track championship. The next step in his career took him to the Canadian-American tour where he had even more success. His first foray into NASCAR came in 1986 at the Oxford Plains Speedway where he drove his own car; he came in at 25th after his car suffered engine failure. In 1990 he won the “Rookie of the Year” honours after running in the Busch North Series.
1991 was a busy year for him, he became the Busch North Champion after winning ten times in the #25 Chevrolet with two of those wins in “combination” races with the Busch Grand National Series, including the high-status Oxford 250 and he made his debut into the NASCAR Winston Cup Series at Rockingham. High on the heels of success Ricky ran full time in the Busch Series in 1992 and earned the “Rookie of the Year” honours followed by two consecutive runner up finishes in the Busch Grand National championship standings in 1993 and 1994. Ricky teamed up with Larry Hedrick Motorsports to run for the 1995 “Rookie of the Year” honours when he qualified for all thirty one races and with four Top10 finishes earning him the NASCAR Winston Cup “Rookie of the Year” honour, his third NASCAR “Rookie of the Year” award in six years and making him the first driver to earn the title in the three major NASCAR Touring Series.
Starting the 1996 season well with three consecutive Top 10 finishes and his first career pole Ricky was fourth in the point standings until disaster struck on the 28th of April during the Winston Select 500 at Talladega Superspeedway. Ricky was involved in a multi-car pile up, his car was barrel rolled into the turn one catch fencing, in which five cars drove under Ricky while he was in the air, before crashing back on to the track, only to be hit again. The car was a complete wreck but, incredibly Ricky walked away with bruises and a sprained ankle. With only one Top 5 finish and another pole for the rest of the season Ricky slipped down to 20th in the final point standings.
Ricky went to drive for Hendrick Motorsports,SB111 Motorsports and Midwest Transit Racing in 1997 where he had many achievements including several poles and a third place finish in the 1997 Daytona 500, coming in after Hendrick team mates, Jeff Gordon and Terry Labonte, giving Hendrick Motorsports a 1st, 2nd and 3rd sweep of the Daytona 500. Ricky suffered from concussion after crashing hard into the wall during practice for the inaugural Interstate Batteries 500 and he missed two races but on his return he won the Winston Open and finish a the career best of 19th in the point standings.
Unfortunately, the effects of the concussion reappeared in 1998 and he was forced to miss several races to recover, he left Hendrick Motorsports and finished the season driving the final races for MB2 Motorsports. It was announced in January, 2001 that Ricky would be driving the #32 Tide Ford for PPI Motorsports, a partnership that proved to be very successful, Ricky had a Top 5 in the second event of the season, won the pole at Michigan International Speedway and finally, on the 15th of October at Martinsville Speedway he won the Old Dominion 500 after holding off a last lap charge by Dale Jarrett. Ricky’s second season behind the wheel of the “Tide Ride” in 2002 resulted in a career best 15th place finish in the final NASCAR Sprint Cup Standings. PPI Motorsports announced an alliance with Pontiac for the 2003 season that paid immediate dividends as Ricky and the Tide team recorded their second career win at Darlington on March 16, 2003. The two final laps were tremendous, Kurt Busch was in the lead and wasn’t going to give up the win easily but neither was Ricky going to give up the fight. With a half mile to go the two drivers were battling it out side to side, each trying to take the lead in a final grinding, smoking dash when finally at the finish line they crossed together or so it seemed but Ricky had edged Kurt Busch at the finish line by .002 seconds, the closest recorded finish in NASCAR history. “The bottom line is what I appreciate the most about Darlington is the way we won and the way the fans responded to it,” Craven said. “You can’t create a perfect finish. It has to happen. I think on that day, it happened. We didn’t take one another out. We raced each other as hard as you can race somebody, without crossing that line. I think that was why the race was received as well as it was by everyone.” Ricky joined Roush Racing in 2005 to drive the #99 Ford in the Craftsman Truck Series. On the 22nd of October 2005 he became the 15th driver to win in all of NASCAR’s top series when he won the Kroger 200 at Martinsville Speedway.
Ricky’s final start came at the Goody’s 250 in the Busch Series, driving the #14 Family Dollar Dodge when he finished at 39th after his brakes failed. Ricky is currently working as a NASCAR analyst, working with Dale Jarrett and Marty Reid, at ESPN and Yahoo! Sports.
Robert Moroso was a young NASCAR driver who was killed in a motor car accident just two days after his twenty second birthday on the 30th of September 1990. He was the second son of Dick Moroso, owner of Moroso Racing Inc. and former owner of Moroso Motorsports Park in Jupiter, Florida and, as is often the case when being brought up in a racing environment, Rob’s interest in racing started at a young age. “He really loved the racing,” Dick Moroso said. “He started back when he was about 12 years old. He asked me one day if we could go racing go-karts. By the time he was 16, he wanted to race cars.”
It was when Rob asked his father for advice that Dick steered him towards NASCAR racing in 1985, starting with the Daytona Dash while he was still in high school, commuting on the weekends from his home in Madison, Connecticut and returning home in time for school on Monday. Over the next two years Rob entered twenty nine out of thirty one races available, winning six races and gaining seventeen Top 10’s including sixteen Top 5’s. Three days after graduating from high school, Rob moved to Charlotte for good. “He was all by himself,” his father said. “He bought a little house in the Idlewild area and planned to stay. He loved Charlotte and never cared about going back.”
He made his debut in the Busch Series at the age of seventeen, driving the #23 Old Milwaukee Chevrolet before switching to the #15 for Rick Hendrick. In 1988 at the age of nineteen he had won his first race and he finished second in the Busch final point standings. Rob had a total of six victories in 1988/1989, including three consecutive wins at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He was also voted the most popular driver on the circuit.
In 1989 Rob was a contender for the championship against Tommy Houston in the final race of the year at Martinsville Speedway when Tommy’s engine failed and while Rob came in at third he won the title by 55 points over Tommy becoming at that time the youngest champion in the history of NASCAR. He made his debut into the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series in 1988, running in the Oakwood Homes 500 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finishing at 14th. He had another race in 1988 and had two races in 1989 as practice for the 1990 season, stating he would be running for the “Rookie of the Year” honour, driving the #20 Oldsmobile for his father’s team. The best result for the season was a 9th place finish in the Pepsi Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway. His last race was the Holly Farms 400 at North Wilkesboro Speedway when he came in at 21st.
On the 30th of September 1990 Rob lost control of his car on a bend whilst doing approximately 75 mph in a 35 mph speed controlled area. It was revealed that he was over the limit for driving with alcohol, being over twice the limit of 0.10. The crash also resulted in the death of the innocent driver, Tammy Williams, who was in the oncoming lane. The bend at which they were both killed has now been named as “Dead Man’s Curve” by the people of Mooresville, North Carolina. It was also revealed that Rob had been convicted of speeding four times before the accident. Rob completed just twenty five out of twenty nine races, earning him enough points to be posthumously awarded the “Rookie of the Year” honours for 1990.
Te rat rod you see here has been name “Chevillac Kabriolet” and was build by Svenmeister of Hard Core Kustoms. It took Svenmeister over 800 hours to build this truck which was originally a 1952 Chevy and has now been modified so it is powered by a Caddy V8.
Svenmeister was born in Switzerland and was modifying everything he came across from a very early age from his first set of Hot Wheels to his first bicycle. As time passed he realized his passion was for building radical cars but the Swiss laws were far too restrictive for his plans and eventually decided to move to America to pursue his dreams. He has set up shop as Svenmeister Hard Core Kustom specialising in custom motor cycles.
Like so many race car drivers Ronald “Ron” Bouchard was brought up in the racing industry where his father, Bob, owned and prepared race cars in the Modified Division. His cars were entered into every major track in New England, even setting a record of forty six victories in a single season, a record that still stands today. Ron was born on the 23rd of November 1948 in Fitchburg, Massachusetts.
Ron began his racing career in 1963 at Brookline Speedway in New Hampshire when he was fourteen years of age. He stood in for his father’s driver who had become ill. He went on to win his first career race later that year at the Norwood Arena. When he had finished high school he began to race his father’s car on a regular basis. It wasn’t to long when he moved up to drive in the late models at Seekonk Speedway. His talent was such that he claimed five track championships from 1967 to 1971 consecutively. It wasn’t long before he was noticed by car owner, Bob Johnson, who offered him a ride in his Modified car at the Stafford Speedway. Driving for Bob Johnson he won his first career race in April 1972, the first of thirty five career victories he would gain at Stafford Speedway.
He later became the Modified track champion on two occasions, 1973 and 1979. He also won the 1978 Smyrna Speedway World Series title and one of his biggest modified victories came at Thompson Speedway when he took the Thompson 400 driving the #1 car belonging to Dick Armstrong. Ron was one of the most foremost drivers in New England Modified racing winning well over 200 feature events, driving for car owners Marvin Rifchin, Bob Judkins, Len Boehler and Bob Johnson, dominating the tracks at Stafford Speedway, Thompson Speedway, Seekonk Speedway, Waterford Speedbowl and Westboro Speedway.
The next stage in his career was to race in the top Series of NASCAR, the Winston Cup. His first race was at Talladega Superspeedway in 1981, driving the #47 J.D. Stacy Buick for Jack Beebe, owner of the Race Hill Farm team. This turned out to be a phenomenal year for Ron, he ran in twenty two of a possible thirty one events, gaining twelve Top 10 finishes in the twenty two races. He also captured the 1981 “Rookie of the Year” honours, together with, in his eleventh career start, the Talladega 500. An incredible result, Ron was running in third place behind Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte on the final lap. Darrell Waltrip and Terry Labonte were battling it out, side by side as they came out of the fourth turn when Terry went high in an effort to pass Darrell, Darrell tried to block Terry and seeing his opportunity Ron went low and crossed the finish line just inches before Darrell and Terry. A fantastic finish! Darrell Waltrip said after the race, “Where the hell did he come from?” This was to be his only career wins in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. During the years that he raced in NASCAR Winston Cup, 1981 to 1987, Ron won three poles and posted nineteen Top 5’s and sixty Top 10’s with his best finish in the season final point standings at 8th position in 1982.
Ron retired from racing after competing in the Winston 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in 1987. He is now a successful car dealership owner in Massachusetts. He still attends Modified races in New England but not as a driver, he is a sponsor for his brother-in-law, Ed Flemke Jr. In 1998 Ron was inducted into the New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame in its inaugural class.
The car that you see here is a unique creation that was designed and built by Joe Cherry and is called “El Nomado”. Although this car looks like it could have rolled off a GM production line in 1958 this is actually Joe’s take on what such a car would look like had they done so.
As you would expect from a vehicle of this caliber it has been given some modern upgrades to improve the performance and handling. All the braking system has been upgraded to include a dual reservoir power master cylinder and now has disk brakes all round that have been cross drilled to improve their stopping ability. The suspension is now fully adjustable thanks to air bags fitted in each corner. The wheels are Boyd Coddington 18″ Crown Jewel Wheels that work perfectly against the perfect paintwork.
1958 El Nomado
1958 El Nomado
The interior of the car was designed by Brian Dering and Joe Cherry and matches the contoured design of the exterior. Inside you can see that all the interior metal parts have been painted to match the exterior and that the color is complimented by cream leather trim. The Leather trim also continues through into the pick-up bed.
1958 El Nomado
1958 El Nomado
The engine is a 348 cubic that is connected to a 2 Speed Powerglide Transmission both of which were available in 1958. The engine is connected to a Tire Warmer Exhaust System that features Flow master mufflers.
1958 El Nomado
1958 El Nomado
If you would like to read more about this car then I would strongly recommend visiting the El Nomado website by clicking here.
Ronald “Ronnie” Thomas was born on the 8th of March, 1955 in Christiansburg, Virginia. He is the son of former NASCAR driver, Cerry Ezra “Jabe” Thomas whose career spanned from 1965 to 1978. Ronnie started to race in the Winston Cup Series in 1977 when he took part in four races including the Coco-Cola 500 at Pocono Raceway, the Delaware 500 at Dover International Speedway, the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway and the American 500 at North Carolina. After four starts he finished at fifty three in the final point standings. The following season he ran in twenty seven events, gaining two Top 10 finishes and was named NASCAR’s 1978 Winston Cup “Rookie of the Year”, an honour coveted by all of the NASCAR rookies. He finished the season in eighteenth position in the final point standings. Ronnie had his best career season in 1980 when he finished in fourteenth position in the final point standings, driving the #69 War Eagle Construction car. He made his final start in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series in the 1989 Miller High Lite 400 at Michigan International Speedway. Over a twelve year career span Ronnie ran in 197 races gaining nine Top 10 finishes. Ronnie also ran three races in the NASCAR Nationwide Series between 1982 and 1985 where his best finish was at 54th in 1985.
He, like his father, never actually won a NASCAR race but did enjoy many victories at local speedways after he retired from professional racing. He holds the record for sixty late model stock car victories at River Valley Speedway, now Motor Mile Speedway in Pulaski County. Ronnie has many happy memories of the hardships that were endured during the early days of racing and he believes that the difficulties that the racers in those days show what the sport was really about. “We’d sleep 10 people in a motel room sometimes,” he noted. “My dad slept in the closet. One of the crew guys slept in the bathtub. I went out and slept in the race truck.”
“I don’t think they could get by with it now. It was just a blue collar sport back then. It was a lot easier to get into racin’ back then.”
Samuel “Sam” McQuagg was born on the 11th of November, 1937 in Columbus, Georgia. As a young man in 1956 he worked in the construction industry but Sam found the job lacklustre and boring, he felt the need to do something more exciting with his life so he bought a half interest into a 1934 Ford to race at the local dirt tracks. He found that he was very successful and is reputed to be almost unbeatable at the local Valdosta 75 Speedway.
A few years later, in 1962 Sam took his own car, the #62 Ford to Valdosta 75 Speedway and entered into his first NASCAR Grand National Series (now the Sprint Cup) event. He qualified 9th for the race but engine troubles forced him to drop to a twelfth place starting position. This was his only NASCAR race for the year. 1964 saw Sam racing in the Grand National Series again but with little success. He drove in five races, driving the #71 and #72 Fords for J.L. Thomas, four were recorded as DNF (did not finish) and the fifth race he finished in twelfth position but he did race on several dirt tracks with amazing results – out of thirty nine races he entered he won thirty seven of them.
In 1965 Sam made sixteen starts in the NASCAR Grand National Series, driving for various teams and he gained five Top 10 finishes and took the coveted 1965 “Rookie of the Year” honours. In 1966, having been spotted by Dodge for the accomplishments of his small Ford team he was hired to drive their #98 Dodge for the Ray Nickels team. During practice runs Sam noticed that the rear of the car was lifting and the rear wheels were spinning. “We had tested spoilers at Daytona for nearly a month prior to the race”, said McQuagg.
“It wasn’t like what they use today. It was only about an inch-and-a-half high, and it was contoured. It made a lot of difference in the way the car handled. It disturbed the air just enough to keep the car from flying”. It all sounds simple, but it took Chrysler engineers months of work to come up with the idea, which McQuagg used to his advantage on the #98 Dodge for the 1966 Firecracker 400 on the 4th of July. ‘‘We were down there for two or three weeks in the month of June,’’ McQuagg said, “Last summer in the weeks leading up to the 50th running of the Coke Zero 400. ‘‘The car wouldn’t run at all. You start down the back¬stretch at about 180 (mph) and it would start lifting. The back end started spinning the back wheels. The engineers came up with this little spoiler. It was an inch and half tall across the back of the car and the car immediately picked up about five or six mph.’’ Sam won the 1966 Firecracker 400 at Daytona International Speedway, this was to be his one and only win whilst driving in the NASCAR Grand National Series. He ran in fifteen more races that year and gained four Top 5’s and 7 Top 10 and finished fifteenth in the final point standings. He made fifteen starts in the 1967 49-race season, with three top-5s and three top-10s. This year also saw him involved in a bad crash on lap 81; Sam went over the guardrail, flipping many times before landing back on his wheels.”
Following the wreck Sam decided to scale down his schedule and drive only at local tracks. He also decided to gain his flying licence and in 1970 he joined the W.C. Bradly Company in Columbus, Georgia as the company pilot and unofficially retired from racing. In 1974 Sam returned to racing for three starts for Hoss Ellington, driving the #28 Pylon Wiper Blades Chevrolet. He finished in seventh place at Darlington Raceway and eighth position at Talladega Superspeedway. His last start of his NASCAR career was in the 1974 World 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Over the period of eight years in NASCAR’s Grand National Series Sam made sixty two starts, had one win, nine Top 5’s and twenty one Top 10’s. In 1997 Sam retired as a commercial pilot after 27 years of flying. He was happy with rich memories of his short NASCAR career. He told the media, “It meant awful lot to win at Daytona. It’s the Taj Mahal of racetracks.” He was inducted into the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.
Sadly Sam died of cancer on January 3, 2009 at the age of 73 at St. Francis Hospital. He and his wife Joy had recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary.
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