Dean Combs | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | North Wilkesboro, North Carolina | February 23, 1952||||||
Achievements | 1975, 1976, 1977 NASCAR Baby Grand Series Champion 1980, 1981 NASCAR International Sedan Series Champion | ||||||
NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
24 races run over 4 years | |||||||
Best finish | 39th (1984) | ||||||
First race | 1981 Holly Farms 400 (North Wilkesboro) | ||||||
Last race | 1984 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta) | ||||||
| |||||||
Statistics current as of January 15, 2012. |
Dean Combs (born February 23, 1952) is a former NASCAR driver. In his limited career, Combs competed in twenty-four Winston Cup Series events. Combs is best known for dominance on NASCAR's lower level Dash Series in the 1970s and 1980s. He had five championships in that series, and was the all-time wins leader in that series before it closed up in 2004.
Combs made his entrance into the series in 1981, driving for two races late in the season. Driving for the #77 of Irv Sanderson, Combs made his debut at North Wilkesboro. He qualified well, putting it in with an 11th-place lap. Eventually, rear end problems sidelined Combs to 28th. Combs again qualified well at Rockingham, but fell out once again due to mechanical problems to 34th.
Combs upped his races to five starts in 1982, beginning with a 38th at Charlotte. Including that race, Combs only managed to finish two of his five starts. However, those two were fairly impressive. Both races came at Michigan and the result was a 17th place and a 13th place showing.
Combs continued on his five-race pace in 1983, continuing to drive Sanderson's cars. He still struggled to finish races, falling out of two of the events. Yet, once again, if Combs finished he had good finishes. He was 13th at Charlotte, 20th at Michigan and at Atlanta, Combs grabbed his only top-10 with a solid eighth-place finish.
Combs biggest year came in 1984, when he competed in twelve events. However, judging by the nine DNFs it was not exactly successful. The only races he did finish were an 18th at Charlotte, 19th at Daytona and 25th at Richmond. After finishing 39th in points, Combs and Sanderson finally split and Combs went back to lower level racing.
NASCAR Winston Cup Series results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Team/Owner | No. | Make | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | NWCC | Pts | Ref |
1981 | Irv Sanderson | 77 | Buick | NWI 28 | ROC 34 | n/a | n/a | [1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1982 | CLS 38 | MCH 17 | MCH 13 | NWI 26 | CLS 34 | 43rd | 431 | [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1983 | CLS 13 | MCH 20 | DOV 33 | 42nd | 500 | [3] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
97 | Oldsmobile | CLS 32 | ATL 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
1984 | DAY 19 | RCH 25 | ATL 32 | NWI 31 | MAR 27 | DOV 29 | CLS 18 | 39th | 903 | [4] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Chevrolet | MCH 36 | DAY 32 | MCH 38 | RCH DNQ | CLS 28 | ATL 36 |
In 2009, Combs was arrested for the operation of a moonshine still in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. Officers from the Wilkes County Sheriff's Office destroyed the still with explosives, seizing 200 US gallons (760 l; 170 imp gal) of corn liquor and 3,000 pounds (1,400 kg) of sugar. [5]
Lake Chambers Speed is an American retired stock car racing driver. He formerly competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, scoring one career win in 402 starts.
Harold Phil Gant, known for his many nicknames such as "The Bandit", "High Groove Harry", "Hard Luck Harry", "Mr. September", and perhaps mostly as "Handsome Harry", is a retired American stock car racing driver best known for driving the No. 33 Skoal Bandit car on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series circuit during the 1980s and 1990s and his 4-race win streak in 1991.
Timothy Lee Richmond was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio. He competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. Richmond was one of the first drivers to change from open wheel racing to NASCAR stock cars full-time, which later became an industry trend. He won the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award and had 13 victories during eight NASCAR seasons.
Morgan M. Shepherd is an American semi-retired professional stock car racing driver and current team owner. He last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 89 Chevrolet Camaro for Shepherd Racing Ventures. He is a born again Christian who serves as a lay minister to the racing community. He competed in NASCAR for over 50 years, having one of the longest careers in the sport. Shepherd became the second-oldest race winner in 1993, when he won the spring race at Atlanta at the age of 51 years, 4 months, and 27 days. He holds the record for oldest driver to start a race in a NASCAR Cup Series race at the 2014 Camping World RV Sales 301 at age 72.
Virgil Earnest Irvan, occasionally referred to as Swervin' Irvan, is an American former professional stock car racing driver. A retired NASCAR competitor, he is best remembered for his comeback after a serious head injury suffered from a crash during a race in 1994 that left him with only a 10% chance of survival. Irvan has been inducted into numerous halls of fame and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. After a series of injuries in the late 1990s, he retired from racing in 1999.
Benjamin Stewart Parsons was an American NASCAR driver, and later an announcer/analyst/pit reporter on SETN, TBS, ABC, ESPN, NBC, and TNT. He became famous as the 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup Series champion, and was a 2017 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. He was the older brother of former NASCAR driver car owner and broadcaster Phil Parsons of Phil Parsons Racing.
Jeffery Purvis is a former race car driver in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He is a 15-year veteran with four wins and 25 top-five finishes. He suffered a massive brain injury after a 2002 crash and has not run a NASCAR-sanctioned race since 2004. He currently races crate late models at Golden Isles Speedway.
North Wilkesboro Speedway is a short track that held races in NASCAR's top three series, including 93 Winston Cup Series races. The track, a NASCAR original, operated from 1949, NASCAR's inception, until the track's closure in 1996. The speedway briefly reopened in 2010 and hosted several Stock Car Series races, including the now-defunct ASA Late Model Series, USARacing Pro Cup Series, and PASS Super Late Models, before closing again in the spring of 2011. The track is currently being renovated for another reopening. The track is located on U.S. Route 421, about five miles east of the town of North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. It measured 0.625 miles (1.006 km) and featured a unique uphill backstretch and downhill frontstretch.
Randall LaJoie is a former NASCAR Busch Series race car driver, where he won the championship in 1996 and 1997. He is the father of racers Casey and Corey LaJoie.
Theodore Musgrave is an American former stock car racing driver.
Brett Elias Bodine III is an American former stock car racing driver, former driver of the pace car in Cup Series events, and current NASCAR employee. Brett is the younger brother of 1986 Daytona 500 winner Geoff Bodine and the older brother of 2006 and 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Todd Bodine. He was born in Chemung, New York. Brett has been named one of the 50 greatest NASCAR modified drivers of all time, was the runner-up for the 1986 Xfinity Series championship, and collected a total of five Xfinity Series wins and sixteen pole positions. Brett made 480 Cup series starts with one win and five pole positions. He has led over 1,000 career laps in both the NASCAR Cup series and the NASCAR Xfinity series.
Richard Charles "Chuck" Bown Jr. is a former NASCAR champion. His last ride came in 1999. He lives with his wife in Asheboro, North Carolina. He is the brother of former fellow NASCAR competitor Jim Bown.
Marv Acton is a former NASCAR driver. He made 14 Winston Cup starts in his career. He had a best finish of 11th place. Among the racing Acton did before NASCAR was racing Stock Cars at Kearney Bowl Speedway in Fresno, California and Midgets in Southern California.
Julius David "Slick" Johnson III was an American stock car racing driver. A veteran of short track competition in the Carolinas, he competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series during the 1980s; his best finish in the series, second, came in a non-points consolation race at Daytona International Speedway. He was killed in a racing accident in an ARCA race at Daytona in 1990.
Rodney Combs is an American former stock car racing driver. He has not been in NASCAR since 1997, when he was released from his ride in the Busch Series. Combs entered NASCAR after many years on the open-wheel and short track circuit in the Midwest, racing with Mark Martin and Dick Trickle. Combs was a 2001 inductee in the National Dirt Late Model Hall of Fame.
Darel Dieringer was an American professional stock car racing driver. He ran 181 NASCAR Grand National Series races during his career, notably racing for Bud Moore Engineering and Junior Johnson & Associates. Dieringer won seven races and recorded 79 top ten finishes.
Bruce Hill was an American stock car racing driver from Topeka, Kansas. He competed in the Winston Cup Series, ARCA, and in the NASCAR West Series. He also competed in late model races around his hometown later in life.
Baxter Price is an American racing driver from Monroe, North Carolina who competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series. He made 90 Winston Cup starts from 1973 to 1981, never recording a top ten.
LJ Racing was a stock car racing team that competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series between 1997 and 2000. Owned by Joe Falk, the team posted a best finish of fifth with driver Todd Bodine, and a best Winston West Series finish of second with Mike Wallace driving. LJ Racing has since been revived as Circle Sport Racing.
The 1987 Holly Farms 400 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series racing event that was held on October 4, 1987, at North Wilkesboro Speedway in North Wilkesboro, North Carolina.