ALAN KULWICKI

Alan Kulwicki (December 14, 1954 – April 1, 1993) Alan Kulwicki was born in Greenfield, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee.was an American NASCAR driver. He drove the #7 Ford Thunderbird, first sponsored by Zerex and later by Hooters. His first sponsor was Quincy’s Steakhouse, and the car number was 35. He was nicknamed “Special K”.

During his six-year Winston Cup career, Kulwicki won five Winston Cup races and earned twenty four pole positions. He went on to win theWinston Cup championship in 1992, which was noteworthy accomplishment because he was the last Winston Cup winner who served as both driver and owner of his car/team, the first Winston Cup winner with a college degree, and the first Winston Cup winner not born in a southern state.

Tragically, Kulwicki was killed at age 38 in a plane crash on April 1, 1993, near Blountville, Tennessee, while returning in a Hooters corporate jet from an appearance prior to spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway

Career Totals (1975 – present)
Starts	Championships	Wins	Top5	Top10	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings
207	1	5	38	75	12.0	16.4	3,151,092

Year	Rank	Points	Starts	Wins	Top5	Top10	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings
1993	41	625	5	0	2	3	15.8	15.0	153,470
1992	1	4078	29	2	11	17	10.5	10.5	907,510
1991	13	3354	29	1	4	11	6.8	17.0	518,645
1990	8	3599	29	1	5	13	11.8	14.5	403,662
1989	14	3236	29	0	5	9	7.3	18.8	425,500
1988	14	3176	29	1	7	9	10.1	19.2	364,190
1987	15	3238	29	0	3	9	14.1	18.2	284,375
1986	21	2705	23	0	1	4	22.1	15.7	83,450
1985	40	509	5	0	0	0	25.7	20.3	10,290

CALE YARBOROUGH

Cale Yarborough – Driver, NASCAR Hall of Fame Finalist 
Birthdate: March 27, 1939
Hometown: Timmonsville, S.C.
Competed: 1957-88
Starts: 562
Wins: 83
Poles: 69
As competitive as the sport has always been, NASCAR has had very few dynasties. Cale Yarborough’s reign in the late 1970s, though, was one of them.
His string of three consecutive NASCAR Sprint Cup championships from 1976-78 was unprecedented – and unmatched until 2008, when Jimmie Johnson was crowned champion for the third straight year.
During his three-year dominance, Yarborough won 28 races – nine in 1976, nine in ’77 and 10 in ’78. His final championship points margin in those three years was never fewer than 195 points and was as much as 474 in 1978.
Those three years made Yarborough’s career, but he enjoyed success before and after. The fiery competitor was the series championship runner-up in 1973 and ’74 and again in 1980.
Yarborough totaled 83 victories in his 31-year career, ranks fifth all-time. His 69 poles rank third all-time. And he won the Daytona 500 four times (1968, ’77, ’83-84), a mark that ranks second only to Richard Petty’s seven.
When NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers” list was compiled in 1998, suffice it to say that William Caleb Yarborough was a shoo-in.

Alan Kulwicki

NASCAR Winston Cup

Career: 1985-91

	Alan Kulwicki

A owner/driver to win a NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship, Kulwicki claimed the 1992 title by the closest margin in the series history — edging Bill Elliott by 10 points.

During that championship season, Kulwicki also led the most races (20). He was killed in a 1993 airplane accident while flying to a race in Bristol, Tenn. In 1993, Kulwicki was inducted into Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway’s Court of Legends.

Four years later, in 1997, Kulwicki was inducted into Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway’s Heroes of Bristol Hall of Fame.

Career Totals (1975 – present)
Starts	Championships	Wins	Top5	Top10	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish	Winnings
207	1	5	38	75	12.0	16.4	3,151,092

Year	Rank	Points	Starts	Wins	Top5	Top10	Avg. Start /FINISH
1993	41	625	5	0	2	3	15.8/15
1992	1	4078	29	2	11	17	10.5/10
1991	13	3354	29	1	4	11	6.8/17
1990	8	3599	29	1	5	13	11.8/14
1989	14	3236	29	0	5	9	7.3/18
1988	14	3176	29	1	7	9	10.1/19
1987	15	3238	29	0	3	9	14.1/18
1986	21	2705	23	0	1	4	22.1/15
1985	40	509	5	0	0	0	25.7/20

Red Byron

Red Byron
Robert “Red” Byron was there at the outset, to say the least.

Byron won the sanctioning body’s first race in 1948, on the Daytona beach-road course. He went on in ’48 to win NASCAR’s first season championship — in the NASCAR Modified Division.

The following year he won NASCAR’s first Strictly Stock title — the precursor to today’s Cup Series — driving for car owner Raymond Parks. The Strictly Stock schedule had eight races; Byron won two of them.

Wounded in World War II, Byron drove with a special brace attached to the clutch pedal, to assist an injured leg — making his accomplishments even more impressive. That injury contributed to Byron’s relatively brief career, after which he continued to be involved in motorsports.

When he died in 1960 at the age of 45, Byron had branched out, striving to make more history, by developing an American car capable of winning the famed 24 Hours of LeMans sports car event.

In 1998 he was named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers,” recognition of a highly significant career, the relative brevity of it notwithstanding.

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Byron’s Cup Series stats

Career	Races	Wins	Top-5	Top-10	Avg. Start	Avg. Finish
1949-1951	15	2	8	9	10.4	10.0

JUNIOR JOHNSON

Birthdate: June 28, 1931
Hometown: Ronda, N.C.                                                                                     
Competed: 1953-66
Starts: 313
Wins: 50
Poles: 46
Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson is unique in NASCAR history, with tremendous success both as a driver and a car owner.
Johnson won the second annual Daytona 500 in 1960 and in the process, became credited with the discovery of “drafting” on the massive superspeedways. He won 50 races in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series then surprised many people by retiring from driving to become an owner. As a competitor, Johnson never missed a beat; through the years his drivers won 132 races. There also were six series championships produced with Cale Yarborough (1976-78) and Darrell Waltrip (1981-82, ’85).

HERB THOMAS

Herb Thomas
Thomas was truly one of NASCAR’s first superstars. He was the first to win two Cup Series championships (1951, ’53). He finished second in the points standings in 1952 and ’54 giving the North Carolina veteran top-two championship finishes in four consecutive seasons.

He finished outside the top two in the championship only once (fifth in 1955) between 1951-56. Thomas won the ’51 championship driving self-owned cars.

Thomas won the second running of Darlington Raceway’s famed Southern 500 in 1951 and with back-to-back victories in 1954-55 was the race’s first three-time winner.

Thomas won 48 times in series competition, a number that ranks 12th all time. His 48 victories in 228 starts equates to a series-record winning percentage of 21.05. Thomas won races in seven consecutive seasons from 1950-56.

After retiring from competition following the 1962 seasons, Thomas went on to start a trucking company and sawmill. He was named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers” in 1998.

FFRED LORENZEN

Fred Lorenzen

NASCAR Cup Series Career: 1956, 1960-67, 1970-72

Equally adept at racing on short tracks and superspeedways, Fred Lorenzen was one of the most capable drivers in NASCAR history.

An example of Lorenzen’s driving skills came in 1964 when he won eight of the 16 races he entered, and finished 13th in NASCAR Cup Series points despite not competing in 45 of the 61 races held that year.

Lorenzen scored wins in seven of the 12 years he competed in NASCAR Cup Series competition. He was the first driver in NASCAR history to earn more than $100,000 in one season ($122,588 in 1963).

In 1978, Lorenzen was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association’s Hall of Fame at Darlington Raceway. In 1991, he was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in Talladega, Ala.

Richie Evans

Richie Evans – Driver, NASCAR Hall of Fame Finalist

Birthdate: July 23, 1941 (died October 24, 1985)
Hometown: Rome, N.Y.

Competed: 1973-85

Starts: 1,300 (estimated)

Wins: 475 (estimated)

The recognized “king” of Modified racing, Evans captured nine NASCAR Modified titles in a 13-year span, including eight in a row from 1978-85.

In the first year of the current NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour format in 1985, Evans won 12 races, including a sweep of all four events at Thompson, Conn.

Evans ranked No. 1 in the 2003 voting of the “NASCAR All-Time Modified Top 10 Drivers,” and he was named one of NASCAR’s “50 Greatest Drivers” in 1998