Dick Rathmann

Dick was born January 6, 1924 and lives in Los Angeles, California...Won 10 poles and 13 races between 1951 and 1955, including Martinsville, three in a row at Langhorne, Darlington, and Daytona, then Daytona again in the 1952 season....won five more races in '53 (including two at Langhorne) and three more (including back-to-back spring races at Oakland and North Wilkesboro) in '54....was fifth in points in '52, third in '53, fourth in '54, and eighteenth in '55, when he ran fewer than half the races.

Bill was born March 14, 1927 and died April 18, 1994 and lived in Conowango Valley, NY....The youngest champion in Winston Cup history, he was just 21 when he won the 1950 title by winning one race, that being at Canfield, Ohio, on May 30....it was the only victory of his career, which leaned more toward Indy-car racing after his brief moment of fame....as it was, he won the '50 title only because Lee Petty and Red Byron lost their points for driving in non-NASCAR races....and Fireball Roberts may have beaten Rexford instead of finishing second if he'd taken it easy in the season-finale after Rexford had fallen out....instead, Roberts blew up and finished poorly, and Rexford won the title by 110 points.

Tim was born June 7, 1955 and died August 13, 1989 and he lived in Ashland, Ohio...One of the most popular and flamboyant drivers to ever sit in a stock car...had a brief (185 races) but bittersweet career (14 poles and 13 wins) between 1980 and his last start for Hendrick Motorsports in 1987...came to NASCAR after being rookie of the race in the 1980 Indianapolis 500....all but one of his victories came on superspeedways....became embroiled with NASCAR over his medical status prior to the 1988 season....NASCAR wouldn't let him race without medical clearance, and Richmond didn't want to take a physical because he knew it would show he had AIDS, which caused his death in 1989.

Fireball was born January 29, 1929 and died July 7, 1964 and he lived in Daytona Beach, Florida...he never won a series championship (he was second in 1950), but he was one of the best and most popular racers in NASCAR history....won 35 poles and 33 races in 206 career starts between 1950 and 1964, when he died from injuries received in a fiery crash at Charlotte...his major victories included four each at Daytona Beach, and darlington, and one at Atlanta, plus at Bristol and Martinsville....got his nickname because he was an outstanding baseball pitcher....was the '57 season's most popular driver and had five top-10 finishes in points between '57 and '63.

Wendell was born August 29,1921 and he died December 23, 1990 and he lived in Danville,Virginia....the only African-American to find any success at all in Winston Cup racing...won one pole and the Dec.1,1963 race at Jacksonville, a race originally given to Buck Baker before Scott correctly pointed out a scoring error....he was promoted by short-track promoters who thought the novelty of having a black driver would boost attendance....raced for most of the '60s and into the '70s, finally retiring after suffering major injuries in a crash at Talladega in '73...his life and times were the basis of the film Greased Lightning which starred Richard Pryor....was sixth in season-ending points in '66 then 10th,9th, and 9th the next three seasons.

Jack was born May 24,1924 and lives in Sandy Springs, Georgia....Won 24 poles and 21 races during his 263-race career he began in 1949 and ended in 1964...among his most important wins: the 1962 Firecracker 250 at Daytona Beach, plus victories at Bristol, North Wilkesboro, on the road course at Bridgehampton, a 100-mile qualifier at Daytona Beach, and at Martinsville....best season was '62, when he won five races and was fourth in points.