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Tag: nascar sprint cup champion

  • NASCAR Champions Featuring Tim Flock

    NASCAR Champions Featuring Tim Flock

    Cup Champion 1952 and 1955
    May 11, 1924 – March 31, 1998
    Hometown:  Fort Payne, AL
    Career: 1949 – 1961

    Julius Timothy “Tim” Flock was born in Fort Payne, Alabama and grew up in one of the most famous racing families of early stock car racing. His two brothers, Bob and Fonty were both NASCAR drivers, as well as his sister Ethel Flock Mobley.

    Both brothers tried to discourage Tim from following in their footsteps. It was his sister Ethel and her husband who helped him get his start in racing in 1948.

    In 1949, Tim, Bob, Fonty and their sister Ethel became the only four siblings to drive in the same NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race.

    Flock won his first championship in 1952 while driving Ted Chester’s Hudson Hornet. In 33 starts, he earned eight wins and had 22 top five finishes.

    In 1955, Flock won his second series title driving a Carl Kiekhaefer Chrysler. It was a record breaking season that included 18 wins, 32 top fives and 18 poles in 39 races. Flock’s 18 wins in a single season was a record that would remain unbroken until 1967 when Richard Petty captured 27 wins in one season.

    Flock also won NASCAR’s only sports car race, in 1955, driving a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL.

    He was one of the most colorful characters of the sport and a fan favorite. Flock competed in eight races with his pet monkey, Jocko Flocko, as a passenger in his racecar.

    In May 2013, it was announced that Flock would be inducted into the 2014 class of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Richard Petty, an inaugural member of the Hall of Fame, cast his vote for Flock and spoke highly of his driving prowess.

    “I have never in my life seen a smoother driver than what Tim was,” said Petty.  “When I started along, I said look, he’s one of the guys that I want to be as good as, be as smooth as what he is. A lot of times he was in a race and you’d never know he was in it, until they threw the checkered flag and he’d won it.”

    Flock died on March 31, 1998 at the age of 73. However, his wife, Frances, and son Carl, were in attendance to hear the news.

    “I was very surprised and very shocked,” Frances Flock said. “I’m still just shaking all over.”

    Carl Flock was ecstatic, saying, “Coming from the King, saying how smooth Daddy was, that’s a big honor.”

    Accomplishments:

    1952 – NASCAR Grand National Champion
    1955 – NASCAR Grand National Champion
    1955 – NASCAR Most Popular Driver Award
    1972 – Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame
    1972 – Inducted into the State of Georgia Hall of Fame
    1991 – Inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame
    1994 – Inducted into the Charlotte Motor Speedway Court of Legends
    1998 – Named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers
    1999 – Inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America
    2006 – Inducted into the Alabama Sports Hall of Fame
    2010 – 2013 Nominee to the NASCAR Hall of Fame
    2014 – Will be 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