Ernie Irvan

Irvan in 1997

Born

January 13, 1959 (age 58)
Salinas, California, U.S.

Achievements

1991 Daytona 500 Winner
1993 Winston 500 Winner
Led Winston Cup Series in poles in 1994

Awards

NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
1993 Super Ford Magazine Driver of the Year
1994 True Value Hard Charger
1994 Mike Rich Memorial Award
1994, 1995 Maxwell House Spirit Award
1995 Winston Cup Scene Top Story of the Year
1995 Arete Award for Courage in Sports (Professional Division)
1996 Mildred "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias Courage Award
1996 AP Parts Meet the Challenge Award
2001 Selected as a torchbearer for the 2002 Olympics
2002 Inductee into the Stock Car Hall of Fame
2002 Voted by MSNBC Top Ten Greatest Sport Comebacks of All Time
2005 Inductee in the

Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career

313 races run over 12 years

Best finish

5th (1991)

First race

1987 Wrangler Jeans Indigo 400 (Richmond)

Last race

1999 Frontier @ the Glen (Watkins Glen)

First win

1990 Busch 500 (Bristol)

Last win

1997 Miller 400 (Michigan)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
15	124	22

NASCAR Xfinity Series career

57 races run over 8 years

First race

1986 All Pro 300 (Charlotte)

Last race

1999 MBNA Platinum 200 (Dover)

First win

1991 AC-Delco 200 (Rockingham)

Last win

1992 Fram Filter 500K (Talladega)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
3	15	5

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career

12 races run over 5 years

First race

1995 Lowe's 150 (North Wilkesboro)

Last race

1999 NAPA 250 (Martinsville)

Wins	Top tens	Poles
0	8	0

Virgil Earnest "Ernie" Irvan (born January 13, 1959), occasionally referred to as "Swervin' Irvan", is a retired American racing driver. A former competitor in NASCAR, he is best remembered for his comeback after a serious head injury at Michigan International Speedway. He is inducted in numerous halls of fame and was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998. After a series of concussions in the late 1990s, Irvan retired from racing in 1999.

Irvan began his racing career driving karts in California in 1968 at the age of nine. He won the California Championship at the age of 15. In 1974, Irvan finished second in the country in his class at the national kart championship races. In 1975, Irvan moved up to at the age of 16 at Stockton 99 Speedway and was victorious in his first race on asphalt in a semi-main event. From then until 1981 Irvan raced every weekend at Madera and , winning numerous feature events. He missed his high school graduation ceremony to race at Riverside, California. During this time, he lost his best friend, Tim Williamson, in a racing accident at Riverside, several months before he was slated to test in Winston Cup.

In 1982, Irvan left California with $700 in his pocket and everything he owned loaded into his pickup truck and a homemade trailer, and he headed east to North Carolina. Worried about running out of money, Irvan stopped in Las Vegas and managed to leave with an additional $200.

Irvan supported himself in Charlotte, North Carolina by welding grandstand seats at Charlotte Motor Speedway, unloaded Ken Schrader's moving van, built racecars, and other odd jobs. During that time, he won nine races driving in the late model series at Concord Speedway. Driving a Firebird, Irvan won two races his first year and seven races the next year.

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Wikipedia