NASCAR 50 greatest drivers of the first 50 years

Reprinted by permission of the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing

Curtis Turner won 17 NASCAR  Winston Cup races and in 1956 won twenty-two races in the NASCAR Convertible Division.

Herb Thomas won 49 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 46 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 10 races at Daytona International Speedway.

Junior Johnson won 50 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 26 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 17 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 92 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 26 NASCAR Winston Cup races.

Bob Welborn won 20 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 37 wins and 51 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 at age 52 and once won four straight races.

Tiny Lund won four NASCAR Grand American crowns and 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 13 races.

Buddy Baker the first driver to officially break the 200 mph mark, earned 19 career NASCAR Winston Cup wins.

Richie Evans won a record nine NASCAR Featherlite Modified Tour titles, including eigh straight (1978-85).

Cale Yarborough won 83 races and is the only driver to win three straight NASCAR Winston Cup championships (1976-78).

Alan Kulwicki won five career NASCAR Winston Cup races and the 1992 series title by just 10 points, the closest margin in history.

Bobby Allison, the 1964 and 1965 NASCAR Modified champ, won 84 NASCAR Winston Cup races and the 1983 series championship.

Davey Allison won in just his 14th career start and went on to win 18 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 18 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 18 times.

Rusty Wallace, who has 47 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 22 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 84 NASCAR Winston Cup races, including 43 and three titles driving for Junior Johnson.

Dale Jarrett has won 15 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 15 straight seasons, including four as an owner-driver.

Bill Elliott, the 1988 NASCAR Winston Cup champ, has 40 career wins, including eleven and the Winston Milion in 1985.

Ernie Irvan won short-track titles on both the east and sest coasts before moving to a NASCAR Winston Cup career in which he captured fifteen wins.

Dale Earnhardt equaled Richard Petty’s record of seven NASCAR Winston Cup Series championships.

Jeff Gordon won 27 races and two NASCAR Winston Cup championships between 1995 and 1997.

Terry Labonte has started more consecutive races than anyone in NASCAR Winston Cup history, winning two Series titles (1984 and 1996).

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Corvette Cruisers of Greater Daytona Beach 
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Daytona Beach Street Rods
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Cranking A’s Region 
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