Fred Lorenzen
| Fred Lorenzen | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | Frederick Lorenzen, Jr. December 30, 1934 Elmhurst, Illinois, United States |
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| Achievements | 1958, 1959 USAC Champion In 1964, Fred Lorenzen achieved a NASCAR milestone by winning the same 500 mile superspeedway race (Atlanta 500) for the third year in a row. No driver had previously visited victory circle at the same big track event three straight times. 1965 Daytona 500 Winner In 1966, Lorenzen became the first driver in NASCAR history to win races at all five of the souths original superspeedways (Daytona, Darlington, Atlanta, Charlotte, and Rockingham) At his initial retirement in April 1967, Lorenzen was the sports all time superspeedway winner with 12 victories, besting the late Fireball Roberts by two wins. 1963, 1965 World 600 Winner First NASCAR driver to surpass $100,000 in winnings in one season ($122,000 in 1963) First driver to sweep both Martinsville races from the pole in a season (1964) He remains the only driver to win four consecutive 500 lap races at the small Virginia track. Had a 50% winning percentage in 1964 (8 wins in 16 starts) |
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| Awards |
1963, 1965 Grand National Series Most Popular Driver |
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| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 158 races run over 12 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 3rd (1963) | ||||||
| First race | 1956 untitled race (Langhorne Speedway) | ||||||
| Last race | 1972 Old Dominion 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| First win | 1961 Virginia 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
| Last win | 1966 American 500 (Martinsville) | ||||||
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| Statistics current as of April 2, 2013. | |||||||
1963, 1965 Grand National Series Most Popular Driver
Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
Motorsports Hall of Fame of America inductee (2001)
NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee (2015)
Frederick "Fred" Lorenzen, Jr. (born December 30, 1934), nicknamed The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express and Fearless Freddy, is a former NASCAR driver from Elmhurst, Illinois. Active from 1958 to 1972, he won the 1965 Daytona 500.
Fred Lorenzen was 15 years of age when he and his Elmhurst, Illinois friends competed in a contest to see who could flip a 1937 Plymouth over first by cranking it around in circles. Lorenzen claimed to be the victor of that confrontation.
After graduating from high school, Lorenzen began racing and late models, and made his NASCAR debut in 1956 at Langhorne Speedway, finishing 26th after suffering a broken fuel pump, winning $25. He moved to a USAC stock car, and won the 1958 and 1959 championships driving his Talarico Bros. built Chevrolet.
On Christmas Eve 1960, Lorenzen received a phone call from team owner Ralph Moody that would change his career. Moody asked Lorenzen about becoming his team's lead driver. A surprised Lorenzen accepted, albeit curious as to what he'd done to fulfill Moody's criteria to be part of his team.
In 1961, Lorenzen began winning races in what would become a remarkable career. For five years from 1961 till 1966, Lorenzen dominated NASCAR like few other drivers ever would winning many major races and defeating the best drivers of his day.
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