Gene Felton
| Gene Felton | |
|---|---|
Gene Felton in the pits at the 1993 Fast Masters event
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| Born |
May 11, 1936 Atlanta, Georgia |
| Allegiance |
 United States of America
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| Service/branch | Marines |
| Years of service | 1958-1971 |
| Rank | Captain Company Commander |
| Website | www |
Gene Felton (born May 11, 1936), is an American race car driver. He hails from Atlanta, GA. Felton is a graduate of the University of North Carolina and served in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). He currently lives in Roswell, GA.
Felton began his motor sports career drag racing. In 1954, he had 6 wins as a drag racer.
From 1958 to 1960, while in the USMC, he raced motorcycles in Okinawa, Japan and won a championship consisting of 13 Pacer's Motorcycle Club Okinawa wins.
In 1964, Felton won the Chimney Rock Hillclimb which was the first event he ever entered. In 1967, Felton was the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) A Sedan Class Southeastern regional champion. Over the course of 1964 to 1969, he had 42 wins.
In 1971, he was the SCCA D Production Class Southeastern regional champion. Also in 1971, he was the Peachbowl Speedway Ministock champion. In 1971, he also competed in the NASCAR Grand American series and garnered 3 top-5 finishes.
In 1972, Felton won his first professional race, the International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) Camel GT series Presidential 250 at Daytona International Speedway. This race was only his third professional race. Gene raced a big block Camaro during this win. Felton would go on to having 13 wins at Daytona.
In 1973, Felton won another 250-mile race, the IMSA Camel GT series Paul Revere 250, at Daytona. He drove the same big block Camaro from the 1972 Presidential 250 during this race. In 1976, Gene qualified for his first NASCAR Grand National race at the Atlanta Motor Speedway Dixie 500. He finished 16th driving for Junie Dunleavy. From 1974 through 1977, Gene Felton garnered 15 IMSA Champion Spark Plug Series event wins. During this time, he competed in NASCAR Permatex Modified Series in the same Camaro.
From 1977 through 1980, Felton won the IMSA American Challenge series all four years. During this run, he accumulated 25 wins. In the 1980 season, he qualified for the pole and won all nine races.
Also in 1980, Felton had 3 wins at the Dixie Speedway racing on a 3/8 mile dirt track.
In 1981 and 1982, Felton was runner-up for consecutive years in the IMSA American Challenge series.
In 1982, Felton was runner-up in the GTO Class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans race at the Circuit de la Sarthe in Sarthe, France. These wins occurred during the 1982 IMSA Championship Season.
In 1983, Felton had 3 wins during the 1983 IMSA Championship Season including the Miami Grand Prix. He also won the first Trans-Am race in which he was entered, beating out David Hobbs and other factory teams.
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Wikipedia