- Red Byron
Infobox NASCAR driver
Name = Robert "Red" Byron
Birthdate = birth date|1915|3|12|mf=y
Died = death date and age|1960|11|11|1915|3|12|mf=y
Birthplace = Anniston,Alabama
Cause of Death = heart attack
Best_Cup_Pos = 1st - 1949 (Strictly Stock)
Cup_Wins = 2
Cup_Top_Tens = 9
Cup_Poles = 2
First_Cup_Race = 1949Charlotte Speedway (NASCAR 's first SS race)
First_Cup_Win = 1948Daytona Beach Road Course
Last_Cup_Win = 1949Martinsville Speedway
Last_Cup_Race = 1951Darlington Raceway
Awards = 1949 NASCAR Strictly Stock Champion (NASCAR's first SS season)1948 NASCAR Modified Champion (NASCAR's first season and its first Modified season)
Inducted into the
National Motorsports Hall of Fame (U.S. (1966)Named one of
NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers (1998)
Years_In_Cup = 3
Total_Cup_Races = 15Robert "Red" Byron (
March 12 ,1915 -November 11 ,1960 ) was aNASCAR driver who was successful in the sanctioning body's first years. He was NASCAR's first Modified champion (and its first champion in any division) in 1948 and its first Strictly Stock (predecessor toSprint Cup ) champion in 1949.Background
Born in
Colorado he moved toAnniston, Alabama at an early age, Byron began racing in 1932 and was successful racing in Talladega by the start of the 1940s. His racing career was interrupted when he served in theUnited States Army Air Force as a flight engineer duringWorld War II . Byron'sB-24 was shot at (not down) during the war and he suffered a serious injury to his left leg. It took nearly two years for doctors to rebuild his leg but he managed to make a good recovery, although he was left with a limp.Racing career
When he returned from the war, Byron, limp and all, returned to racing, and was still successful. In 1948, Byron became a part of the newly formed NASCAR Modified Series. Driving for Raymond Parks, he won the first NASCAR-sanctioned race ever, held on
February 15 1948 at theDaytona Beach Road Course . This was one of eleven victories for Byron that season. [http://www.livinglegendsofautoracing.com/drivers_pages/drivers_red_by.html]In 1949, Byron began racing in NASCAR's newly formed Strictly Stock series, which became the Grand National series, Winston Cup, and the modern-day
Sprint Cup series. With Parks in tow, Red was equally successful in the inaugural 8-race season. Just as he had done in 1948, he won at Daytona Beach, and also won at a dirt track in Martinsville. Byron, as he done the previous year in a modified, ended the year as the series' first champion.Byron raced sparingly after his two championships. He owned a
sports car racing team for much of the 1950s.Life after driving
Declining health forced him to hang up his goggles in 1951, but he remained active in racing. He worked with
Briggs Cunningham , who was trying to develop an American sports car that could win Grand Prix races, then become manager of aCorvette team with the same goal. Neither project succeeded, but Bryon enjoyed sports cars.Death
When he died of a heart attack in a
Chicago hotel room onNovember 11 ,1960 , at the age of 45, he was managing a team in theSports Car Club of America competition.Awards
Despite his brief career, he was selected to the National Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1966. In 1998, as part of NASCAR's 50th Anniversary celebration, he was selected as one of
NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers . He is announced as a 2008 inductee in theInternational Motorsports Hall of Fame .External links
* [http://www.racing-reference.info/driver?id=byronre01 Driver stats at racing-reference.info]
* [http://thespeedblog.com/racers-past-robert-red-byron-1915-1960/ Biographical article on TheSpeedBlog.com]
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