Buck Baker (Courtsey of Wiki Commons)

Elzie Wylie Baker Sr. was born on the 4th March 1919 in the heart of NASCAR racing country at Richburg, South Carolina. Better known as "Buck" he started his career in 1939 when he entered a race in Greenville, South Carolina, unfortunately he didn’t finish the race due to one of his tyres blowing out. This didn’t deter him because he went on to become one of the greatest and toughest drivers in NASCAR’s history. His reputation was such that his competitors said that if they nudged him in the heat of the race they could expect a confrontation in the pits after the race making him known not only for his tremendous victories on the track but also for his victories in fights afterwards. His son Buddy said some years later, "My dad won his share of races on the track but I don’t think he ever lost a battle in the pits". An extremely versatile driver he was able to jump into any car and get the best out of it, giving him victories in eight different models such as Chevrolet, Pontiac, Ford, Hudson, Oldsmobile and Dodge. During his racing career he drove for eight different teams including Fox, Babb, Smith, Kiekhaefer, B A Pless, T C Griffin, Ernest Woods and himself. In 1955 Kiekhaefer joined the NASCAR touring series and his team almost swept the board with victories, gaining twenty two out of thirty nine races and this was when Kiekhaefer noticed that Buck was giving his team a good run for their money in his own cars, Oldsmobiles and Buicks. At the beginning of the 1956 Grand National season Kiekhaefer is reported to have said, "I saw that Buck was my top competition, there’s only one thing to do with a man like that - hire him". During the 1956 season Buck won a total of fourteen races for Kiekhaefer, starting with the 150 mile race at the Phoenix dirt track and secured the Grand National title for himself. He managed to finish in the top five in thirty of his forty eight starts. When Kiekhaefer left NASCAR after this season Buck found himself driving for Babb in a Chevrolet and his winning streak continued. This season saw him winning a further ten races including the 1957 Grand National Championship (giving him his second straight championship) and finishing in the top ten in all but two of his forty starts. In 1960 he had a spectacular victory at the Darlington Race Track, competing in the famous Southern 500. He was substituting for Jack Smith, driving a Pontiac for the Smith team when he blew a tyre with two laps to go and victoriously finished on only three wheels amid a shower of sparks. In total he won the Darlington three times. Buck retired from full-time driving in the NASCAR Grand National series after 1968 season and joined the pony league Grand Touring Series, excelling once again, winning eight times over four seasons before retiring from this in 1973. His final race was at Darlington on April 11th in 1976, he finished sixth which was a great achievement for a veteran aged fifty seven years. His achievements were NASCAR Speedway Division champion in 1952, Grand National Champion in 1956 and 1957, coming runner-up in 1955 and 1958. He was awarded inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association’s Hall of Fame in 1982, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1990, named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 and inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1998. On retiring Buck opened the Buck Baker Racing School where he worked alongside his sons, Buddy and Randy and his daughter, Susie. Buck died peacefully from natural causes on April 14th 2002.

Incidentally, Buck’s car, the No 93 1970 Chevrolet Monte Carlo, that he drove in the last four races is to be auctioned 2011 Russo and Steele Auctions in Scottsdale, Arizona in January 2011. The car changed hands many times over the years and was found in a North Carolina Body Shop by Doug Rudy and David Tom who purchased it and restored it back to the original blue with the number 93 on its side.

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