Delma Cowart | |||||||
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Born |
Savannah, Georgia |
July 6, 1941 ||||||
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
21 races run over 17 years | |||||||
Best finish | 44th (1982) | ||||||
First race | 1981 Atlanta Journal 500 (Atlanta) | ||||||
Last race | 1992 DieHard 500 (Talladega) | ||||||
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NASCAR Xfinity Series career | |||||||
1 race run over 1 year | |||||||
Best finish | 135th (1982) | ||||||
First race | 1982 Goody's 300 (Daytona) | ||||||
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Delma Cowart (born July 6, 1941), is a retired NASCAR and ARCA driver. While never achieving much success, Cowart achieved notoriety for being the "clown prince of racing" in the 1980s and '90s. His jovial nature made him a favorite among competitors.
Cowart began competing in NASCAR in the Late Model Sportsman Division, now the NASCAR Xfinity Series. His notoriety in that series came in 1979 Permatex 300 at Daytona. On lap four, Joe Frasson had wrecked and was sitting in the middle of the race track. Cowart hit Frasson at nearly full speed igniting Frasson's fuel tank into a ball of fire. Neither Frasson or Cowart were injured in the crash although Don Williams was critically injured trying to avoid the accident. When changes to the structure of the late model series were made, Cowart decided that the rising expenses in that series would make it just as economically feasible to race in the Winston Cup Series. Cowart made his first start in NASCAR by qualifying for the 1981 Atlanta Journal 500 with owner Heyward Grooms. That day he finished 18th. In 1982, Cowart earned his best career finish, in the Firecracker 400 at Daytona, scoring 17th.
A superspeedway driver, Cowart qualified for the Daytona 500 four times, each time throwing an extravagant party for members of the NASCAR community in celebration.
Cowart's primary career was installing pools and septic tanks in the Savannah, Georgia area. He used his day job to advance his racing, once trading Junior Johnson's engine builder a swimming pool for a racing engine.
Cowart's main tracks were Daytona International Speedway or Talladega Superspeedway, but he did run in the 1992 race at Rockingham, North Carolina. Cowart also tried, but failed, to make the 1994 Brickyard 400.
His main number was 0, but he did run the 01 a few times. Cowart repeatedly joked that he was the only driver whose car number matched his chance of winning.
Cowart made the 1992 Daytona 500 and made his trademark quote, "I ain't never won a race, though I ain't lost a party." An accident-filled qualifying race allowed Cowart to finish 13th and advance to the Daytona 500. "When we made the race," Cowart said, "I went out and hired a team physician. I figured we needed a team physician. I figured we needed one for all the physical requirements of our fine crew. What does the doctor specialize in? He's a veterinarian, because all we've got on our crew is a bunch of dogs!" A legendary party ensued at a Daytona area hotel. "I don't think he showed back up at the track until Sunday," Benny Parsons recalled.