Ralph Dale Earnhardt was an American professional stock car driver and racing team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. His aggressive driving style earned him the nicknames "the Intimidator", "the Man in Black" and "Ironhead"; after his son Dale Earnhardt Jr. joined the Cup Series circuit in 1999, Earnhardt was generally known by the retronyms Dale Earnhardt Sr. and Dale Sr. He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history and named as one of the NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers class in 1998.
Robert Vance Isaac was an American stock car racing driver. Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s. He was most famously associated with driving Nord Krauskopf's red No. 71 K&K Insurance Dodge Charger. Isaac was NASCAR's Grand National Series champion in 1970. Isaac abruptly retired from full-time top-level competition in 1973 and died of a heart attack during a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1977. For his achievements, Isaac was named as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers and inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Richard "Dick" Hutcherson was an American businessman and a former stock car racer. A native of Keokuk, Iowa, Hutcherson drove in NASCAR competition from 1964 to 1967. He won 14 races, finishing runner-up in his first full season in 1965 and third in 1967, but after four years of top-level racing he retired at the season's end to devote his energies to Hutcherson-Pagan Enterprises, a chassis-building business in Charlotte, North Carolina. His younger brother Ron also became a stock car racer.
David Gene Pearson was an American stock car driver, who raced from 1960 to 1986 in the former NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series, most notably driving the No. 21 Mercury for Wood Brothers Racing. Pearson won the 1960 NASCAR Rookie of the Year award and three Cup Series championships. He never missed a race in the years he was active. NASCAR described his 1974 season as an indication of his "consistent greatness", finishing third in the season points having competed in only 19 of 30 races. Pearson's career paralleled Richard Petty's, the driver who has won the most races in NASCAR history. They accounted for 63 first/second-place finishes, with the edge going to Pearson. Petty had 200 wins in 1,184 starts, while Pearson had 105 wins in 574 starts. Pearson was nicknamed the "Fox" for his calculated approach to racing.
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 Harold Brooks was an American NASCAR driver. Born in Porterville, California, he was the 1969 NASCAR Rookie of the Year, and went on to win the 1973 Talladega 500. Brooks held off veteran Buddy Baker by 7.2 seconds for the Talladega win. After he retired, he served as a NASCAR sportscaster for a brief period of time. His Grand National statistics include the win at Talladega Superspeedway, 57 top fives, 150 top tens, 4 top-ten points finishes, and 358 career races. Although Brooks only won one NASCAR race, he was a popular figure in that league of motorsports. Brooks drove for the underfunded Junie Donlavey team throughout his racing career.
Loy Allen Jr. is a former professional NASCAR Winston Cup, Busch, and ARCA series race car driver, turned real estate developer and Embry-Riddle-trained commercial pilot. On February 12, 1994, he became the youngest and first rookie in NASCAR Winston Cup history to win the Daytona 500 pole.
Carl Adams is a former NASCAR driver from National City, California. He made 28 Cup Series starts in his career. He earned five top-ten finishes and had a best effort of 23rd in the point standings in 1975.
Clyde J. "Butch" Lindley Jr. was a Short track racer. He was the champion of the NASCAR Sportsman Division in 1977 and 1978.
Walter Harvey Ballard Sr. is a former NASCAR driver from Houston, Texas. In 1971, he won the Rookie of the Year Award in the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand National Series, in its first year under Winston's sponsorship.
Robert Laurence Wawak was an American NASCAR driver from Villa Park, Illinois. He made 141 Grand National/Winston Cup Series starts, with fourteen top-10 finishes.
Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a race track located in Easley, South Carolina, just west of Greenville, South Carolina. The track hosted weekly NASCAR sanctioned races. Several NASCAR touring series have raced at the track in prior years, including the Whelen Southern Modified Tour and the NASCAR Grand National Division. NASCAR Cup Series and Xfinity Series teams frequently tested at the track until 2015, when all private testing was banned. The Upper South Carolina State Fair has been held at the fairgrounds adjacent to the race track since 1964. The capacity of the track was 35,000, including the Dale Earnhardt Backstretch, a three-tiered parking area where fans can take in races while tailgating or camping.
Emanuel Zervakis was an American NASCAR driver and team owner. He won two NASCAR Grand National Series races in his career, both in 1961. He later went on to own a part-time Cup team and a successful Busch Series team, receiving five Busch wins as an owner, four with Butch Lindley and one with Ricky Rudd.
The 1971 Daytona 500, the 13th running of the event, was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race held on February 14, 1971 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Spanning 500 miles (800 km) on the paved oval track, it was the first Daytona 500 in the Winston Cup era of NASCAR. During this time, Richard Petty was becoming one of the winningest veterans on the NASCAR circuit.
The 1971 NASCAR Winston Cup Series season began on January 10 and ended on November 20. Richard Petty was the champion for this Winston Cup season. After 20 years of being named the NASCAR Grand National Series, R. J. Reynolds first became the primary sponsor in a decade where the growing anti-tobacco movement banned its advertisement on television and motorsports was the ideal place to place their advertisements. Through NASCAR, Winston merchandise was unveiled to live viewers of the races. This kind of merchandise would also be given out at stores that sold cigarettes in subsequent years. Race car drivers were encouraged to smoke cigarettes until the mid-2000s brought in strict drug testing policies in addition to a smoking cessation program by Nicorette, a GlaxoSmithKline brand.
Henry Neil Castles was an American NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup Series driver. He raced from 1957 to 1976, and won the NASCAR Grand National East Series in 1972.
The 1971 Miller High Life 500 was a NASCAR Winston Cup Series event that took place at Ontario Motor Speedway in Ontario, California.
The 1963 NASCAR Grand National Series was an American stock car racing competition. It was the fourteenth running of what is now called the NASCAR Cup Series.
The 1953 Southern 500, the fourth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event that was held on September 7, 1953, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina.
Enrique Contreras III is a Mexican professional stock car racing driver. He has competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, and most notably, NASCAR Mexico Series. He is the son of former Indy Lights racer Enrique Contreras II and nephew of NASCAR driver Carlos Contreras.
