Billy Rafter | |||||||
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Born | William Rafter July 31, 1929 Clarence Center, New York, U.S. | ||||||
Retired | 1972 | ||||||
Motorsport career | |||||||
Debut season | 1949 | ||||||
Car number | 22 | ||||||
Championship titles | |||||||
1959 NASCAR NY Sportsman Champion [1] 1959 New York State Fair Champion [2] | |||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
35 races run over 6 years | |||||||
Best finish | 19th (1958) | ||||||
First race | 1949 Hamburg NY | ||||||
Last race | 1958 Rochester NY [3] | ||||||
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William Rafter is a retired American champion stock car driver from Clarence Center, New York and a pioneer of the sport.
Billy Rafter made 35 appearances in the NASCAR Grand National Series, the first of which was in 1949, the inaugural year of the Cup division. [3] He otherwise spent the majority of his career racing in the Late Model Sportsman and Modified divisions, competing at the renowned tracks of the northeast, including Fonda Speedway and Perry Speedway in New York and Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania. [1] [4] In 1961 he won the inaugural event at the newly opened Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, New York. [5]
Rafter was inducted into the New York State Stock Car Association and the Northeast Dirt Modified Halls of Fame. [1] [6]
(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)