Ray Hendrick

Ray Hendrick, known as “Mr Modified”, was born in Richmond, Virginia on the 1st April 1929 and sadly died of cancer on the 28th September 1990.  Ray was well known for his philosophy on racing that is “race anywhere and everywhere”. He was a prolific racer, competing in hundred of races across the speedway, earning him victories in some 712 races.  This philosophy prevented him completing a full season in the NASCAR Winston Cup so he never won this championship but did gain two top five and six top 10 finishes in seventeen starts.
His racing career spanned over thirty four years and during this time he competed in mostly the NASCAR Modifieds, driving his famous winged #11 modified coupe, owned by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell.  Ray won five championships at South Boston Speedway, four whilst competing in the NASCAR Modified division and one in the NASCAR Lat Model Sportsman division.  Although he never won a National Modified Championship he finished in the Top 10 in Points nine times between the years of 1960 and 1969 and also finished 8th and 9th respectively in 1974 and 1975 in the National Late Model Sportsman Points (later became known as the Busch Grand National Division).  In 1969 Ray won the Modified Race of Champions at the one mile Langhorne Speedway and again in 1975 at the 1.5 mile oval Speedway at Trenton.

He became the first on the all-time winners list of Martinsville Speedway with twenty wins between 1963 and 1975, topping Richard Petty’s 15 wins.  1970 saw Ray win a 100 Lap National Championship race on Memorial Day Weekend.

He can be credited with the following awards: – inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1993, named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, named one of NASCAR Modified All-Time Top 10 in 2003, was the first inductee into the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2003 and inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame at Darlington, South Carolina in 2007.

Ray achieved near-legendary status among the Modified and Grand National drivers who faced him weekly for almost 35 years. During the ’50s and ’60s he teamed with car owners Ira Smiley, John Tadlock and Jack Tant-Clayton Mitchell to win hundreds of Modified races from South Carolina to New England.

In June 1977 Langley Speedway honoured Ray with a special night a gala was thrown, to recognise Ray with a Silver Anniversary Late Model Sportsman 200 and the night before the presentation Ray and his family were thrilled to attend a lavish banquet at The Chamberlin Hotel in Hampton.  Ray said at the time,. “This is the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me, I can’t imagine anyone not feeling pretty good about something like this.”

In June 1998 Al Pearce of the Daily Press wrote about five Virginians who have distinguished themselves as nascar racing car drivers. Daily Press Motorsports writer Al Pearce takes a look at the five: “RAY HENDRICK Born April 1, 1929, died Sept. 28, 1990… spent most of his career in NASCAR’s rough and tumble Modified and Late Model Sportsman divisions, winning perhaps 900 races … competed against Modified legends Jerry Cook, Bugs Stevens, Richie Evans, Fred DeSarro and Bobby Allison, and against LMS stars Sonny Hutchins, Bill Dennis, Tommy Ellis, Jack Ingram and Sammy Ard … drove cars prepared by Jack Tant and Clayton Mitchell … love of Modifieds kept him from advancing to Winston Cup … had six top-10s in only 17 Cup starts in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s … inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame in ’93.”  He was truly great nascar race car driver with a distinguished and illustrious career.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ray_Hendrick

http://www.vintagemodifieds.com/ray_hendrick

Ernie Irvan

Ernie was considered to be a hard charger on the race track, setting out to win the race from the start to the finish.  Born on the 13th January 1959 in Salinas, California Virgil Earnest Irvan began racing karts at the age of nine.  His father, Vic, acted as his crew and instilled in him the will to win.

At the age of fifteen Ernie won the California Championship and came second in his class at the National Kart Championship Race. His first race, at Stockton 99 Speedway, in stock car racing on asphalt saw him gain his first victory at the age of sixteen in a semi-main event.  His love of racing was such that he raced every weekend at Madera and Stockton, winning many feature events, until, in 1982, he left Salinas, together with all of his belongings loaded in his pick-up truck and trailer and a small amount of cash and headed off to Charlotte in North Carolina.

Ernie supported himself by doing various jobs while still racing in the Late Model Series at Concord Speedway – he won two races in his first year and eleven the following year driving a Firebird.  In 1987 Ernie made his debut in the Winston Cup Series at Richmond Fairgrounds Racing driving a Chevrolet Monte Carlo.  Unfortunately the car overheated and he finished 29th and won $860.  1988 saw Ernie make a bid for “Rookie of the Year” and driving Ulrich’s #2 Kroger Chevrolets and Pontiacs he competed in twenty five of the twenty nine races in the Winston Cup Series only to lose out by a mere three points to Ken Bouchard, reputed to be the closest battle in NASCAR’s history.

Success followed success – Ernie competed in the NASCAR racing Sprint Cup Series and had fifteen wins, 124 Top Tens and 22 pole positions, in the NASCAR Nationwide Series he had three wins, fifteen top tens and five pole positions and in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series he had no wins but eight top ten positions.  August 1994 saw Ernie as the main contender for the NASCAR Winston Cup Series Championship, trailing behind Dale Earnhardt by 27 points, when his hopes were dashed when he crashed at a practice session at Michigan.  He was diagnosed with critical brain and lung injuries at St. Joseph’s Hospital and given only a 10% chance of survival.  Ernie fought for his life and early in September his condition was described as “fair” and he was taken off the ventilator. Shortly after he was transferred to the Charlotte Institute of Rehabilitation where he went through rehabilitation and strength building whilst keeping him focused on returning to Winston Cup racing.  Just over one year after the crash he was deemed fit enough to compete again.

Ernie returned to racing and  again was set on winning, he gained two Top Ten positions in 1995 and gained  twelve Top Five, sixteen Top Ten positions and led in fifteen of the thirty one events  in 1996 with five Top Five finishes, thirteen Top Ten’s and two Pole positions in 1997.   On August the 20th, exactly five years after the accident that nearly claimed his life, Ernie again crashed at Michigan during a practise session.

On September the 3rd 1999 Ernie announced his retirement from driving at a press conference at Darlington South Carolina.  During his relatively short career Ernie has been awarded numerous awards such as:-  Daytona 500 Winner in 1991, Super Ford Magazine Driver of the Year in 1993, True Value Hard Charger in 1994, Mike Rich Memorial Award in 1994, Maxwell House Spirit Award in 1994 and 1995, “Winston Cup Scene” Top Story of the Year in 1995,Arete Award for Courage in Sports (Professional Division) in 1995, Mildred “Babe” Didrikson Zaharias Courage Award in 1996,  AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award in 1996, Named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, Selected as a torchbearer for the 2002 Olympics in 2001, Inductee into the Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2002,  Voted by MSNBC Top Ten Greatest Sport Comeback of All Time in 2002 and Inductee in the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in 2005.

Now it seems that life has gone full circle, Ernie is crew chief for his son, Jared, on his quarter midget just as his father had done for him.  Ernie now promotes a foundation that he formed called Race2safety to promote head injury awareness and to promote prevention of head injuries, especially among children.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Irvan

http://www.irvan.com/

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/headlines/cup/02/01/where.is.ernie.irvin/index.html

Ralph Earnhardt

Ralph Lee Earnhardt was born on 23rd February, 1928 in Kannapolis, Cabarrus County in North Carolina, the youngest of four sons, to John Henderson and Effie Mae Earnhardt.  The family were part of the farming community and on leaving school Ralph worked in one of the cotton mills for several years.  The wages and conditions were poor and one of the ways to get out of the situation was to race.
During his later teens he began to build cars in the family garage with the intention of racing one on the local dirt tracks eventually starting in 1949.  In 1953, at the age of twenty five Ralph turned professional and began his quintessential career, making a huge impression in the world of racing very quickly.
His first race in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series took place on the 11th of November, 1956 when he finished second to Speedy Thompson in the Grand National (now the Sprint Cup Series) at Hickory Speedway, North Carolina.  Also in 1956, he won his first NASCAR Sportsman title, a year in which he gained 32 victories.
Over his career, he held track championships at seven different venues. 1961 saw Ralph have his highest finish in the Grand National point standings, at 17th, and also saw him filling in for Cotton Owens as a relief driver in the Daytona 500, covering more than 300 miles and finishing in 5th place. His awards include:- Ralph was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1989, the same weekend that Dale Sr. won the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway, was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Alabama, in 1997 and, along with his son Dale Sr., was named as one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers”. During the 1998 celebration of NASCAR’s 50th Anniversary, in 2004 Ralph was an inductee in the Oceanside Rotary Club of Daytona Beach Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame and inductee in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame in 2007.
His son, Dale Sr. later said about the award that he shared with his father, “This has been a very special time for me and for our family.  I wish he could have been here to see all of this.”  During an interview with Buck Knight of the Free Lance Star, Fredericksburg, Virginia on Friday the 25th of August 1967 Ralph was asked if he would like to drive on the Grand National circuit he replied, “It would be great fun to drive on the super speedways but the Grand National league is a bit rich for my blood – meaning my pocket book. It’s quite different from driving a sportsman car on short tracks but not so great that a man can’t make the switch. The major difference that I found is that on the superspeedways a man has to stay extra cool and extra-wide-awake. No time for easing up, taking a rest”.
In the old days Ralph raced with the old veterans such as Joe Weatherly, Buck Baker and Curtis Turner and many others. “The sport is a lot different than it was in those days, when I was starting out a fellow heard about the races coming up by the grapevine, or by a phone call from a friend or the promoter. Purses were mighty small and now and then a promoter took it on the lam before the pay-off.  No-one will ever know what NASCAR has meant to racing, it made a haphazard affair into a business, and brought safety to a game where there was very little if any.”
When asked if he had any thoughts of retiring, he replied, “I feel fine and I believe I am driving better than I ever did, I should be, a man learns something every race he drives and I drive three times a week. Ralph had an interest in the up and coming young guns and it was he who started Bobbie Isaacs in the racing business.   Ralph provided the guidance that started his son’s career in racing while growing up in southern North Carolina and Dale Sr. from a very early age wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.  Sadly, Ralph Earnhardt died of a heart attack at his home on the 26th September 1973 at the age of 45.  He was found by his wife, Martha, on the kitchen floor not as people like to believe, working on a car in the garage and found by his son, Dale Sr.  He left behind his wife, Martha, sons Dale as Dale Sr. and Danny and two daughters, Martha Kay and Kathy Lee. He was the grandfather of Dale Jr, and Kerry Earnhardt.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Earnhardt

http://motorsportshalloffame.com/halloffame/1997/Ralph_Earnhardt_main.htm

One of the original legendary “Alabama Gang” Charles Lawrence “Red” Farmer was born on the 15th October 1932 (his birth year is uncertain) in Nashville, Tennessee, moving to Miami, Florida with his mother  in the mid 1940s’ after his parents separated.

Red Farmer

It wasn’t until 1958 that Red moved to Hueytown on a part time basis with Bobbie and Donnie Allison, racing there during the summer months and returning in the winter to his family to work as an electrician. During this time construction work was slow and often Red had to support his wife, children and his mother in law on unemployment money. Finally, in 1962 Red took his family to live in Hueytown, Alabama and that is where they have settled, considering it their home town.

His first race was in 1948 at Opa-locka Speedway in Florida, driving an old 1934 Ford Coupe for a friend’s father.  He won his first prize money of around $300 at the Dixie Speedway at Midfield in a 1936 coup and the following day won again in the feature at Montgomery, giving him around $600, giving him more money than he had had in a long time.

After moving to Hueytown Red continued to work as an electrician until after a few years he gave it up to concentrate on racing full time and so began an incredible journey over the next sixty or so years.  Ray has accrued an incredible estimated 700 to 900 victories on dirt, asphalt and superspeedways, has won the NASCAR Modified championship in 1956, and then claimed three Late Model Sportsman (now Busch Series) titles in 1967-70-71. Four times he was voted NASCAR racings Most Popular Driver and he’s been inducted into the Talladega/Texaco Walk of Fame, the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame, the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.

Farmer was the 1999 recipient of the Alabama Governor’s Award, annually given to an individual or organization for their contribution to auto racing. Perhaps the most prestigious award that Farmer has earned was being named in 2000 as one of NASCAR’S 50 Greatest Drivers of all time.

He has been married to wife, Joan for over 55 years and has three children, two daughters, Cindy and Bonnie and one son, Michael.  He also has nine grandchildren and four great grandchildren.  Red is still active as a driver and regularly races at the Talladega Short Track and also works as consultant with ARCA team.

Alabama Gang legend Red Farmer will be honoured at the track where he still races at age 77.  It has been announced that Talladega Short Track will host the Red Farmer Classic on the 15th of May, 2011 at the dirt track in Eastaboga across from Talladega Super-speedway. In honour of Red’s number – 97- the super late model race will be 97 laps and will pay $9,700 to win.  Red replied to this honour by saying,”Having a race named after him “is quite an honour, especially since they want to do it every year” when asked during an interview for the Stock Car Magazine.

When asked if any track stood out as his favourite Red replied, “Any track I win on is my favourite. But I guess Daytona and Talladega were two of my favourite tracks. That’s unusual for a short track driver. Of course, I loved Birmingham and Huntsville and Montgomery, tracks we ran Thursday, Friday and Saturday for 20 years. We ran Huntsville on Thursday night, Birmingham, Friday night and Montgomery on Saturday night. Then we would go find a big race somewhere. Sometimes we would go all the way up to Manassas, Virginia, and run on Sunday, or up in Tennessee somewhere. We ran four nights a week a lot of times. Basically, I was always a short track driver, but I like Daytona and Talladega. I like the super-speedways“.

He was asked if he preferred dirt or asphalt tracks and he replied, “Nothing but dirt. That’s one thing I really enjoy anymore. It’s just a lot more fun. I’ve got two dirt cars, Super Late Model dirt cars, right now. I’ve got a GRT and a C.J. Rayburn chassis. I’m building a new engine for next year. I’ll be starting my 58th year in 2006. My grandson has a car. We’re building him a crate motor class to start running with. I don’t even care anything about short track asphalt racing anymore. To me it is dull compared to a good dirt track race. You go see a World of Outlaws Super Late Model race with Scott Bloomquist, Billy Moyer, Rick Eckerd, Darrell Lanigan, and Dale McDowell and those guys run on a half-mile dirt track and you’ll never go back and watch another asphalt race. You watch those guys put on a show and that are what I really enjoy it. I just love the dirt tracks sideways, broadside, running up the cushion and it’s a lot more fun racing to me than asphalt is. On asphalt you can set up a car and go back the next year and never have to change it. It’s the same every week. But you go to a dirt track and you’ve got to work on it all the time. One time it’s moist, sometime it is dry slick, sometimes it blacks over, and you have to continually work all night long to keep up with the track. It’s just a lot more interesting to me.”

References

http://www.stockcarracing.com/featuredvehicles/scrp_0601w_charles_red_farmer/photo_01.html

http://blog.al.com/blogoftomorrow/2010/04/red_farmer.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Farmer

Harry Gant from the 1980s or 1990s, taken by Ted Van Pelt (Wiki Commons)

Harry Phil Gant was born on the 10th January, 1940 in Taylorsville, North Carolina.  Street racing in the 1950’s Harry honed his skills on the country roads of Alexander County, North Carolina before beginning his career on a dirt track in Hickory, driving an old ’57 Chevrolet that he and his friends had put together. After becoming a full-time driver he used his driving skills to easily win the Hobby class championship and from there he went on to win over 300 races and including three championships in 1972, 1972 and 1974 in the Sportsman Series.
In 1967 the old dirt track at Hickory was paved and Harry found that he excelled on asphalt, winning his first race in the Sportsman Series.  From here he found his interest in the Winston Cup Series and started racing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. In 1973 where he finished in eleventh position, driving the #90 Truxmore Industries Ford, going on to make six starts and two top ten finishes over the next four years. He the decided to run a full schedule in 1979, he sold half of his construction business to race full time.

His NASCAR racing career spanned over twenty years and throughout this time he started in 474 races with 18 wins, 208 top ten positions and 17 poles, driving for the most part #33 Skoal Bandits cars.  His best season was in 1991 when he earned the nickname “Mr September” after winning four consecutive cup races at Darlington, Richmond, Dover and Martinsville with two Busch races in September of that year.  It was a career high, placing him in fourth position in the standings, along with one pole position, fifteen top 5’s and seventeen top 10’s, leading the most laps totalling 1,684.  Harry holds two other records, the first being the oldest to get his first career win at the age of 42 and the second being the oldest driver to win a Cup race at the age of 52.
Harry, also nicknamed Handsome Harry Gant (due to his Hollywood-style good looks) retired from racing in the Winston Cup and the Busch Series in at the end of season in 1994. He ran only a partial season in the Craftsman truck series in 1996 driving his own car, #33 Westview Capital Chevrolet C/K and substituting for Bill Elliott who was injured in the 1996 Winston Select, driving Bill’s car, #94 McDonalds Ford Thunderbird.
Harry had an impressive career, winning the International Race of Champions in 1985, was the 1991 National Motorsports Press Association Driver of the Year, inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 2003, he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in2006. He also had small parts to play in Evil has a face and Daytona 500, both TV movies, and was unaccredited in the Cannonball Run, Days of Thunder and Stoker Ace movies. Harry has found it relatively easy to come away from racing,  he is working on his 400 acre farm with around 350 head of cattle, repairing fences and refurbishing three rental houses that he owns, his own words are “he was a good race car driver but a great carpenter”, and helps out in the family run Gants Family Steakhouse.  He also spends a lot of time with his grandchildren saying, “I just wanted to be home,” Gant said. “Our ballpark here has about three or four fields, I reckon. They’d be all of them playing at one time, from T-ball all the way up to the real fast pitch. That was every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I wanted to be there. My oldest grandson … is a pretty good football player. But they play on Friday nights and you have to travel a good bit when they get in the playoffs.”That’s what I’m doing. I decided I’d stay with them. I missed my two daughters growing up. I didn’t get to do anything with them, so I decided now we can all go to the ballgames together and watch my grandchildren play. That’s what I do. That’s the reason I didn’t get to racing.”  He is fit, healthy and happy – that’s the good life!

References:

http://www.nascar.com/2007/news/features/03/21/hgant.where.is/index.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Gant

http://ezinearticles.com/?NASCAR-Race-Legend—Harry-Gant&id=1435888

Dale Jarrett in August 2007 at Bristol Motor Speedway (Kim Phillips - Wiki Commons)

Dale Jarrett was born into the world of stock car racing.  His father, Ned Jarrett was two times winner of the Grand National Championship, his older brother; Glenn was also NASCAR racing driver.
Dale was born on the 26th November 1956 in the town of Newton, North Carolina.  He was a natural athlete, proving this by becoming the star quarterback of the football team, the star forward on the basketball team, the star shortstop on the baseball team and the star golfer while completing his studies at Newton Conover High School in Hickory, N.C. He was named his high school’s Athlete of the Year as a senior after competing in football, basketball, baseball and golf. He also won Golfer of the Year in his North Carolina district in 1974 and ’75.
When Dale graduated from high school he had no idea of what he wanted to do for a living, he was offered a full golf scholarship from the University of South Carolina but he turned it down saying he “wasn’t much interested in studying”. His father was later to say, “I knew that he was going to be a professional athlete of some sort because he had so much God-given talent, I really thought he was going to be a pro golfer more than anything else.”  While deciding what he was going to do Dale took a job doing odd jobs such as taking tickets, driving the pace car, selling popcorn and even mowing the lawn at the Hickory Motor Speedway that his father owned.  This was a job he disliked a lot and he even asked his father to buy some goats so that they could eat the grass to save him cutting it!
Dale was married at the age of eighteen and had his first son, Jason, but the marriage didn’t last and the couple divorced shortly afterwards.  It wasn’t until he was twenty years old that he really started to take an interest in racing, and built a race car with two friends and after his father loaned him the money to buy an engine he started to drive the car.
His first race when he started in twenty fourth places and finished in ninth was an eye-opener to him – this was what he wanted to do for the rest of his life!  Both Dale and his father often recall that night with fond memories.  Life was not always easy for him, he would get by, earning a little money competing in the Limited Sportsman Division at Hickory and trying to make a name for himself before moving up to the NASCAR Busch Series in 1982.
Driving the#24 for Horace Isenhower  his best finish was third at Hickory, finishing sixth in points with fourteen Top Tens.  There were no wins in 1983 but he had four poles and seventeen Top Fives giving him fifth place in the standings.  Dale had six poles and nineteen Top Tens and finishing a career best fourth at the end of the season in 1984 and made his debut for the Cup at Martinsville Speedway, finishing fourteenth before making two more Cup starts that season, at the Firecracker 400and the American 500.
As his career progressed he was victorious in the prestigious Daytona 500 three times (1993, 1996, 2000), with his father broadcasting all three races for CBS, he was honoured as Driver of the Year in all forms of motor-sports racing in 1999, when he won the NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, won 32 races on 16 different tracks in NASCAR’s top series (Winston Cup and Nextel Cup), named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and voted the USG Person of the Year Award in 2004.
He retired from points racing after the 2008 Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. At the weekend’s pre season meeting, he spoke to the other drivers, saying “Enjoy this.  We all have our time in this, and mine has been fantastic.  To me, it has been an honour and a privilege to be able to race in this series and say I raced with and against and sometimes beat the best in the world.  Thanks for allowing me to do that.  Enjoy it.  It’s a great sport, and you guys make it what it is”.  Dale is now living in Hickory with his wife since 1984, Kellee, his sons Jason and Zachary, and his daughters, Natalee and Karsyn.
References:

http://nascar.about.com/od/nextelcupdrivers/p/djarrett.htm

http://www2.wcoil.com/~laser/dalebio.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Jarrett

Richie Evans

The undisputed “King” of the NASCAR Modified racing Richard Ernest Evans, known as “Richie”, was born on 23rd July 1941 in Westernville, New York where he lived with his family on his father’s farm.

Always having a keen interest in cars Richie left the family home at the age of sixteen to begin training as a motor mechanic at a gas station in Rome, New York and it was here that he had his first experience as a racer, beginning with some success as a street racer he progressed to drag racing.
After winning in drag racing a colleague suggested that he build his own car and have a try at stock car racing at the Utica-Rome Speedway.  His first race was in the Utica-Rome Hobby Division in 1964 after building his car, a 1954 Ford Hobby Stock, numbered PT-109.

He progressed to the Modified in the premier division in 1965 and had his first victory on the final night of the season.  In 1973, his first serious attempt at point chasing he won his first NASCAR National Modified Championship but he did not win another Modified Championship until 1978 and from there on it would seem there was no stopping him.  He won the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Championship a further eight times, from 1978 to 1985, reluctant to relinquish his crown and setting a record for any NACSAR racing division even to this day.
Over a period of thirteen years Richie finished first nine times, second twice and only finishing out of the top ten one in all those years.  His driving career was an awesome success taking a total of twenty six championships on eleven different tracks in four states, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and Massachusetts.  He won countless track championships across the North East and had a thirty seven victories season during 1979 whilst competing in stretch of sixty races.

In 1980 he entered for eighty four races and won fifty two of them.  He won the Modified Race of Champions three times, taking the 1.5 mile at Trenton Speedway in 1973, was the last driver to win the 2.5 mile at Pocono in 1979 and the first to win the 3/4 mile at Pocono.  The list of victories is seemingly endless.  It is no wonder that his nickname was “The Rapid Roman”.

Sadly, on 24th October 1985 Richie was practicing for the Dogwood 500 event at Martinsville Speedway at Martinsville, Virginia when he crashed during the third turn, killing him instantly.  He was just forty four years of age.  His achievements have been recognised through many awards:- Selected as NASCAR’s Modifieds Most Popular Driver nine times, Inductee into FOAR SCORE Hall of Fame , 1986, Inductee in the New York Stock Car Association Hall of Fame, Inductee into the National Motorsports  Press Association Hall of Fame, International Motorsports Hall of Fame,1996, One of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers of All Time, 1998, New England Auto Racers Hall of Fame, 1998,Inductee into the Oswego Speedway Hall of Fame, 2000, Named #1 on NASCAR’s Modified All-Time Top 10 list, 2003, One of NASCAR Weekly Series All Time Top 25 Drivers,2006,  Inductee into NASCAR Hall of Fame, 2010.  An impressive list of ways to show the respect the racing fraternity had for him but maybe the following truly show the devastation felt when he died: – In the 1985 IROC Series, every orange car featured a ‘61’ on the rear bumper to honour Richie and his orange #61 car, the #61 is the only retired number in any series – #61 on the Whelan Modified Tour. And finally, Richie’s  #61 was retired at his home track – Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York.

References:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richie_Evans

http://www.legendsofnascar.com/Richie_Evans.htm

http://www.nascar.com/news/features/revans.hof.bio/

Jack Ingram

Jack Ingram, known as the “Iron Man” in racing circles, was born on the 28th December, 1936 in Asheville, North Carolina, and unlike many of his counterparts, was not brought up in stock car surroundings, his mother was a school teacher and his father was a revenue agent, sheriff and a carpenter, both of whom used their influence on their son and encouraged him to work hard at whatever he choose to do.

Jack had his first race in 1965 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series, Buddy Shuman 250, at Hickory when he came in 26th place. He was to go on to win three uninterrupted victories in 1972, 1973 and 1974 in the Late Model Sportsman Championship and when the Busch Series was launched in 1982 Jack went on to win another victory gaining the edge over twice winner, Sam Ard, by only forty nine points.

He repeated this victory in 1985, with a mere twenty nine points over Jimmy Hensley. This victory was almost repeated in 1986 but his hopes were dashed when he was given a two race suspension later in the season for a contentious rough driving episode at New Asheville Speedway, North Carolina. Jack’s career was firmly established in the Busch Series Grand National Division and during this time on most occasions he drove the Skoal Bandit car, bearing the #11, he had won thirty one races that stood as a record until Mark Martin won his 32nd series event at North Carolina Speedway in October, 1997. Of his thirty one wins, twenty nine were won on short tracks. Jack competed in 275 Busch Series races, averaging five wins a year from 1982-87.Jack’s Series titles came late to him, he was over forty five years of age when he received his first victory.

During s career in NASCAR spanning from 1965 to 1991 he made 275 starts, had thirty one victories, and had 168 Top Ten positions and 5 poles. In 1997 Jack was an inductee into the National Motorsports Press Association’s Hall of Fame at Darlington, South Carolina Raceway, in 1998 was named as one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers and Inductee into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007. With his inclusion on the list of nominees under consideration for induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2011, Jack became the first driver from what is now known as the Nationwide Series to receive such recognition.

All but two of Ingram’s thirty one wins came on short tracks so it is no surprise then that Jack has called himself, only half-jokingly, “the best short-track racer ever.” During his Busch Series days, Jack Ingram was nicknamed “Iron Man.” That label sticks still; Even now, at the age of 73, Jack continues to occasionally compete at the short-track Late Model Sportsman Division at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in Greenville, South Carolina.

References

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Ingram_NASCAR_drivers

http://www.nascar.com/news/features/jingram.hof.bio

http://www.skirtsandscuffs.com/2010/08/nascar-hall-of-fame-nominee-spotlight_24.html

Jerry Cook

Gerald, known as Jerry or “Cookie”, Cook was born in Lockport, Western New York on the 31st July 1939. He started NASCAR racing in New York, winning his first race at the age of thirteen, at first locally then moving his racing schedule to the original paved Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. This is where he met his future wife, Sue. She knew that he was a race driver and when they got married the couple moved to Rome, bought a house, build a shop and there they remained for the next twenty five years, bringing up their two children, David and Kristi.

He won the 1969 track championship at Utica-Rome Speedway. Jerry went on to be one of the best drivers in the modified division of all time, winning six times in the NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series, in 1971, 1972, 1974, 1975, 1976 and 1977, he took part in 1474 starts with 342 victories giving him an average of winning every four times he got into his car. Jerry finished 64.5% of his starts in a top five position and an amazing 85% of his starts in a top ten position. He finished one of the top three modified racing drivers in the final standing each season from 1969 to 1982 and made over a million pounds in prize money.

1982 was his last racing season, when the season finished Jerry announced his retirement and took a job with NASCAR at Daytona Beach, Florida helping to create the modern NASCAR Featherlite Modified Series in 1982. The changes in the Series was to enable more teams to contend seriously for the championship, it was decided to reformat the Modified division’s championship to a limited schedule of races not conflicting with one another. 1987 saw a revised format for the NASCAR Busch North Series (currently the East Series) with many of the drivers on the series gaining experience with the hopes of moving up to one of the major NASCAR series, however some of the drivers are right at home in the series and have no plans of moving on. The series is not only developmental for drivers but for crew members and officials, as well. Jerry drafted the first set of rules for the newly formed NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 1995. This Series later became the Camping World Series that in 2005 the Craftsman Truck Series Championship winning team decided to finish the series. Jerry’s title at present within NASCAR is the competition administrator and is based in the NASCAR Research and Development Centre in Concord, North Carolina and currently lives in Mooresville, North Carolina.

His family are deeply involved with NASCAR racing with his son, David, working on the interior of Sam Hornish, Jr’s No 77 Dodge at Penske Racing South, his daughter, Kristi, the executive assistant to former Cup championship team-owner Robert Yates. Meanwhile, Derek, Kristi’s husband, is an engineer at KB Racing and his eldest grandson, Justin is a machinist at Michael Waltrip Racing whilst attending the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The awards that Jerry has received are: – Inductee into the National Motorsport Press Association Hall of Fame in 1989, Inductee into the New York Stock Car Association Hall f Fame in 1993, named as one of NASCAR 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998, named #3 on NASCAR’s Modified All-Time Top 10 list and inductee in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2009.

References

http://www.nascar.com/news/features/50.greatest.jerry.cook/

http://www.racintoday.com/archives/2853

http://sportales.com/racing/nascar-hall-of-fame-nominee-profile-jerry-cook/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Cook