Notable Drivers

4/29/1951- 2/18/2001

Dale Earnhardt, a seven-time NASCAR Cup champion, won 76 races over his racing career, which was cut short by a last-lap crash during the 2001 Daytona 500 that took his life. That year, he was posthumously elected as NASCAR’s most popular driver, a distinction that Bill Elliot had held for the previous ten years.

Earnhardt had a very distinctive driving style. Known as “The Intimidator,” he was no stranger to bump drafting, and definitely earned his nickname on the track.

He was the son of Ralph Earnhardt, also a NASCAR driver, and the father of current racecar driver Dale Earnhardt Jr, who has been voted the most popular NASCAR driver four years and counting.

3/27/1939

Cale Yarborough is number five on the all time NASCAR winner’s list with 83 victories, including four Daytona 500 wins. His racing career spanned three decades, not including several years in the 1990’s he spent as a team owner, hiring drivers such as Dick Trickle, Chat Little, and Jeremy Mayfield.

Yarborough has also made four starts in the Indy 500, with a best finish of 10th in 1972. He is considered one of NASCAR’s all-time greatest drivers.

12/14/1954- 4/1/1993

Alan Kulwicki was the 1992 Winston Cup Champion and the 1986 NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He was inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame posthumously, in 2002.

Widely considered one of the all-time greatest drivers, many fans attribute Kulwicki’s success in racing to his degree in mechanical engineering. Kulwicki came on the NASCAR scene with flair, finishing second in his first ever Busch series start, in 1984.

Kulwicki’s one championship was not solidified until the final race of the 1992 season, where he led one lap more than Bill Elliott, finishing second. Elliott won the race, but because Kulwicki had bonus points for leading, he won the championship by only ten points, the second-smallest margin in series history, and the smallest ever outside the new Chase for the Cup format.

7/2/1937

Richard Petty is a retired NASCAR driver. He is the only driver other than Dale Earnhardt to win seven championships, and is the subject of many debates over who the greatest driver of all time is. He has 200 wins in his career, far more than any other driver in NASCAR history. He also has a record 127 poles and over 700 top ten finishes in his 1185 starts.

Petty is the son of Lee Petty, a former NASCAR driver, and the father of Kyle Petty, a current NASCAR driver. Kyle’s son Adam, Richard’s grandson, was killed in a racing accident in 2000. They are the only four-generation NASCAR racing family.

Now retired from racing, Richard Petty is involved in son Kyle’s Victory Junction Gang camp, and is still a familiar face in the NASCAR crowd. He began Petty Enterprises in the 1990s, and handed off operations to son Kyle ten years later. He was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1997.

7/12/1941-1/16/2007

Benny Parsons was the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Champion, with a racing career that spanned three decades. Known for his consistency, Parsons won his only championship with just one race win that season.

Parsons was the first champion in what NASCAR considers its “modern era,” which began in 1973. He also is the only driver to ever win both ARCA and NASCAR championships.

Newer NASCAR fans might recognize “B.P” for something other than his driving ability. After retiring from racing in 1988, Benny Parsons became a NASCAR announcer for ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He won an Emmy for his work in 1996. He also hosted a radio program called “Fast Talk with Benny Parsons” on the Performance Racing Network.

1/9/1959

Mark Martin is widely agreed to be the best NASCAR driver to never have won either a championship or a Daytona 500. Known as a “racer’s racer,” Martin has raced in not only the NASCAR Cup series, the Busch Series, and the Craftsman Truck Series, but also in the American Speed Association series, where he won Rookie of the Year honors as well as four championships.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Mark Martin started racing on dirt tracks. He has five IROC titles. He continues to run a part time schedule in the Cup, Busch, and Truck Series in NASCAR. Martin is known for racing “clean” and being respectful and gentlemanly, earning him his nickname of “Mr. Consistency.”

8/8/1955

Bill Elliott was the 1998 NASCAR Cup champion. He has 44 wins total in the series, including two Daytona 500 victories.

Elliott won NASCAR’s Most Popular Driver award 16 times, far more than any other driver has, before withdrawing his name from the ballot.

1985 was arguably Elliott’s best year. He won 11 races as well as 11 poles, as well as the first Winston Million, a million-dollar award for winning three of the four most prominent races of the season- the Daytona 500, the Winston 500 at Talladega, the Coca-Cola 600 at Lowe’s/Charlotte, and the Southern 500 at Darlington. Winning three of those four races earned Elliott the nickname of “Million Dollar Bill.”

5/11/1924-3/31/1998

Tim Flock was a two time series champion, in 1952 and 1955. A true pioneer of the sport, he finished 5th in the first ever NASCAR race in 1949. He and both of his two brothers ended the inaugural season in the top eight in points, Tim being eighth.

In 1955, Flock set a record for victories in a season with 18, a record that stood until 1967. His 19 poles that year still stand as the most poles won by a single driver in a single season.

Tim Flock is also credited with the only time a monkey has ridden in a winning car, bringing his pet with him to victory lane at Hickory Motor Speedway.

12/28/1936

Jack Ingram, known as the “Iron Man,” ran eight seasons in the NASCAR Busch Series. He won 31 races, 5 poles, and the 1985 championship. After his retirement, his record for the most wins in the Busch Series stood until it was broken by Mark Martin.

Ingram was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2007 and is still racing today.

8/14/1956

Rusty Wallace is a former NASCAR champion, as well as a car owner in the NASCAR Busch Series. Wallace is one of the few drivers to have finished second in his very first start- at Atlanta Motor Speedway, driving for Roger Penske in 1980.

Wallace’s won his 1989 championship by just 12 points, edging out Dale Earnhardt. He drove a Miller-sponsored car for 14 years and his name is synonymous with the brand.

Rusty Wallace has 55 NASCAR wins and is tied for 8th on the all-time wins list. He now is a broadcaster for ESPN and ABC, covering auto racing events.

12/22/1934

David Pearson is a former NASCAR champion, with three titles to his name. He was awarded Rookie of the Year honors in 1960.

The “Silver Fox” had a notorious rivalry with Richard Petty, which was entertaining for fans. Pearson won the Most Popular Driver award on 1979 and 1980 before his retirement in 1986 after 26 seasons in racing.

Pearson is second in all-time career wins with 105, and second also in career pole positions.

9/12/1956

Ricky Rudd is known as the “Ironman” of NASCAR because he had made 788 consecutive starts at the end of the 2005 season, when he announced he would be taking a break from racing.

Rudd was the 1977 Rookie of the Year and the 1992 IROC champion. He has 23 wins in his NASCAR career, and was inducted into the Virginia Motor Sports Hall of Fame as well as being named one of NASCAR’s 50 greatest drivers.