Fred Lorenzen

Fred Lorenzen was born to race, and had already built his first car the age of 13. Lorenzen made his NASCAR debut in the year 1956, and in his 12 years in NASCAR Cup Series, he accumulated 26 wins, 32 pole positions and 84 top-10 finishes. His talent was beyond doubt and in the 1964 season, even though he did not compete in 45 of the 61 races held that year, he went on to win 8 of the 16 he participated in and finished 13th in the points standings.

Of his 12 years, Lorenzen won in seven years, and was also the first driver to earn more than $100,000 in a single season. Known particularly for driving a Junior-Johnson owned #26 Ford, a car which had a peculiar shape and was nicknamed the "Yellow Banana", Lorenzen was leading the Dixie 500, till he crashed.

Nicknamed "The Golden Boy", "Flyin Freddy" amongst other names, Lorenzen was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the National Motorsports Press Association in 1978, at Darlington Raceway. He was also inducted into the Hall of Fame of International Motorsports, in 1991, at Talladega, Alabama.