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Category: NASCAR Champions

The NASCAR champions series by SpeedwayMedia.com

  • NASCAR Champions Featuring Herb Thomas

    Cup Champion 1951 and 1953
    Birthday: 04/06/1923
    Death: 08/09/2000
    Hometown:  Olivia, NC

    Richard Petty gave high praise to Herb Thomas upon his induction into the 2013 NASCAR Hall of Fame.

    “He was as good as they come,” Petty said. “There have been very few guys who had more confidence in what he could do than Herb. He was so strong-minded that he ‘willed’ his wins and what he was doing on the track. He was going to beat the guys on the track no matter what was going on. That was his mind set.”

    NASCAR historian Buz McKim echoed Petty’s sentiments saying, ‘He (Herb Thomas) might have had probably the most natural talent of nearly anyone in the early days of the sport. The minute he got behind the wheel, he was phenomenal.”

    Herbert Watson Thomas was born in the small town of Olivia, North Carolina in 1923. He farmed, worked at a saw mill and eventually started racing as a hobby.

    When Bill France began organizing races under the newly formed NASCAR, Thomas saw the possibilities and decided to pursue a career in racing.

    Thomas raced as an owner/driver and put most of his winnings back into his cars.  In his first full season of competition in 1950, Thomas captured his first victory at Martinsville Speedway.

    His career took off in 1951 when he began driving what would come to be known as the “Fabulous Hudson Hornet.” Thomas also joined up with the legendary Smokey Yunick and began a legendary partnership.

    Thomas was one of the most successful drivers of his era. Although he only drove for seven full seasons, his list of accomplishments speaks volumes.

    Herb Thomas was the first driver to win two Cup Championships, the first owner/driver to win a championship and the first three-time winner of the historic Darlington Southern 500.

    He earned two championships in 1951 and 1953, finished second in the point standings in 1952 and 1954 and finished fifth in 1955.

    Thomas won 48 times in 228 starts giving him a winning percentage of 21.05. His winning percentage set a record which remains unbroken today.

    He retired from racing at the end of the 1962 season and went back to tobacco farming. Thomas also owned a trucking company which he operated on a part time basis.

    He passed away on August 9, 2000 after a heart attack, at the age of 77.

    In racing and in life Herb Thomas always gave 100 percent. The legacy he left for his family was not all about trophies but more about life lessons.

    “Most of what I know about his racing, I learned from my Grandma Helen,” his grandson, Chris, told me. “You would have never known he was a NASCAR driver simply because he just did not talk about those days much. You did know that he was a very hard working farmer who expected the best. I think he wanted to be remembered for being the best that he could be at everything he did.”

    Accomplishments:
    1951 Cup champion
    1953 Cup champion
    1957 Recipient of the Buddy Schuman Award
    1965 Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame
    1992 Inducted into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame
    1994 Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
    1998 Named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers”
    2010 Nominee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2011 Nominee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2012 Nominee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2013 Inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame

  • NASCAR Champions Featuring Bill Rexford

    NASCAR Champions Featuring Bill Rexford

    Cup Champion 1950

    Birthday: 03/14/1927

    Death:     04/18/1994

    Hometown: Conewango Valley, NY

    NASCAR was born in the southern United States so it may surprise you to learn that in 1950 it was a young man from New York who won the Grand National Championship – the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup Series.

    Bill Rexford also has the distinction of being the youngest driver to ever win a Cup Championship, winning the title at the age of 23.

    Rexford began his racing career in the 1940s. He worked in his dad’s Chevrolet dealership while competing at local tracks. After serving two years in the United States Navy, he continued racing until he caught the eye of racing promoter, Ed Otto. Otto encouraged Rexford to make the move to NASCAR in 1949.

    In 1949, NASCAR’s inaugural season, Rexford made three starts and finished 12th in the standings.

    The next season he competed in 17 races, including the first Southern 500 at Darlington, South Carolina where he finished fourth.

    By season’s end, he was in a battle for the championship against Fireball Roberts. A blown engine almost cost him the title. However, luck was on his side when Roberts, who was racing for the win, blew his engine less than 50 laps from the finish.

    Rexford won the crown and became NASCAR’s second champion in its premier series but the title was not without controversy.

    Lee Petty should have easily captured the championship but was stripped of approximately 800 points for racing in non-NASCAR sanctioned events. If not for that point reduction, Rexford would have lost his claim to fame.

    During the 1951 season, Rexford won the pole at Canfield, Ohio but later crashed and suffered minor chest injuries. He only competed in 11 NASCAR sanctioned races that year and competed in his last Grand National race in 1953.

    In 36 Grand National events, Rexford captured one win, eight top fives and 17 top ten finishes. Rexford gave up racing altogether a few years later, moved to Parker, Arizona and started a trucking business. He eventually relocated to Hemet, California.

    On March 18, 1994 Rexford passed away after several months of illness.

    Rexford is the only series champion that was not included among NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

    Accomplishments:

    1950 Won the NASCAR Grand National Championship

    1994 New York State Auto Racing Hall of Fame

    1995 Inducted into the Friends of Auto Racing Hall of Fame

    1997 Inducted into the Chautauqua Sports Hall of Fame

  • NASCAR Champions Featuring ‘Red’ Byron

    NASCAR Champions Featuring ‘Red’ Byron

    Cup Champion – 1949
    March 12, 1915 – November 11, 1960
    Career: 1949 – 1951

    Robert ‘Red’ Byron had a short but historic career. Although he only competed for three full seasons, his contributions to NASCAR are significant.

    Byron won the first race sanctioned by NASCAR in 1948 on the Daytona Beach road course driving a modified 1939 Ford. He went on that year to win NASCAR’s first championship in the Modified Division.

    The following year brought more success as he teamed up with car owner Raymond Parks.  In 1949, driving the No. 22 Parks Novelty Oldsmobile, Byron won NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock Division championship; the forerunner to today’s Sprint Cup Series. He competed in six of the eight series races that season, capturing two wins at Daytona and Martinsville.

    Byron began racing in 1932 but his career was interrupted when he enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1941. During his stint as a pilot in World War II, he was severely wounded. Byron’s bomber was shot down and he nearly lost a leg. As a result of the injury, he endured constant pain and had to wear a leg brace as well as an orthopedic boot.

    After the war he moved to Atlanta and met ‘Red’ Vogt. Vogt was immediately impressed with Byron. He was not only a gifted driver but had an understanding of the strategy it took to win a race. The two men automatically clicked. Vogt was the mastermind behind the innovative modifications that allowed Byron to compete with his injured leg.

    In late 1945, Vogt introduced Byron to Raymond Parks. These three men would soon become one of NASCAR’s first super teams.

    Byron’s declining health cut short his racing career but he continued his involvement in motorsports.  In his later years he was working on developing an American car that could win the 24 Hours of LeMans.

    He died of a heart attack on Nov. 11, 1960, in a Chicago hotel room, at the age of 45.

    “In so many ways he was the perfect first champion,” Bill France Jr. said of Byron in 1998 when he was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers. “A guy who loved racing so much he refused to give it up. And he loved his country so much he gave it all he had.”

    Accomplishments:

    2010 – 2013 Nominee for NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2008 – Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
    1998 – Named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers”
    1966 – Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association (NMPA) Hall of Fame
    1949 – Won NASCAR’s first championship in the Strictly Stock Division
    1948 – Won NASCAR’s first championship in the Modified Division
    1948 – Won the first race sanctioned by NASCAR at Daytona Beach