Jim Fitzgerald (racing driver)
| Jim Fitzgerald | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born |
December 1, 1921 Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
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| Died | November 8, 1987 (aged 65) St. Petersburg, Florida |
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| Cause of death | Racing accident | ||||||
| Achievements | 1970 SCCA D Production Champion 1984 SCCA GT-1 Champion |
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| Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 2 races run over 2 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 79th (1987) | ||||||
| First race | 1986 Winston Western 500 (Riverside) | ||||||
| Last race | 1987 Budweiser 400 (Riverside) | ||||||
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James Joyce Fitzgerald (December 1, 1921 – November 8, 1987) was an American racing driver. He is the winningest driver in Sports Car Club of America history, with over 350 career wins. Fitzgerald was also at one time the oldest driver to run a NASCAR Winston Cup Series race, being 65 years old when he ran in the 1987 Budweiser 400 at Riverside International Raceway for Hendrick Motorsports.
Fitzgerald spent his early life as an engineer for Western Electric, specializing in missile systems, and began his racing career in 1957. Fitzgerald then ran Datsun 1500 Roadsters, followed by a 2000 Roadster when competing in the SCCA National Championship Runoffs. Fitzgerald won his first SCCA National Championship in D Production in 1970, defeating Carl Swanson after he lost a wheel. Fitzgerald won the GT-1 national championship in 1984, and would also become the winningest driver in SCCA history with over 350 wins in his career, along with winning the final National held at Virginia International Raceway.
After his retirement from Western Electric in 1980, Fitzgerald became an instructor at SCCA driving schools, which included helping NASCAR drivers prepare for the road courses Watkins Glen International and Sears Point Raceway. A resident of Clemmons, North Carolina, Fitzgerald befriended NASCAR team owners Richard Childress and Rick Hendrick in the process, eventually driving for the latter in the Winston Cup Series. He also became a friend and racing teammate to actor Paul Newman in the Trans-Am Series; Newman cast Fitzgerald as a crane operator in the movie Harry & Son, in a scene that was cut from the final release of the film.
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