To say that Fred Lorenzen back in the day had many nicknames would be the understatement of the century. Amongst them were The Golden Boy, Fast Freddie, The Elmhurst Express, and Fearless Freddy. His career started in 1956 when he made his NASCAR debut at Langhorne Speedway and finished 26th in his first race. He walked away with a whole $25.
Although Lorenzen had a short-lived career during which he competed for 12 years, that didn’t stop him from taking home a lot of wins. During 1962-1967 alone he won 22 races. Here is a picture of him rejoicing in his win at the Daytona 500 Qualifier.
Rex White- 223 Races
88-year-old Rex White is a retired stock car racer who began his career in 1956. He became one of the first drivers to compete for the first Ford racing team. For the majority of his NASCAR career, he drove General Motors brand cars. By the time he won the title as the NASCAR Cup Series champion in 1960, he’d already won six races and had 35 top-ten finishes out of 41 starts in that year.
When he won the championship, he received a check for $13,000. He was a big name in the sport until he retired in 1964. He retired from the sport with 73 career wins. In 2015, he was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
Kevin “The Closer” Harvick- Sprint & Xfinity Champion
In 1980, Kevin Harvick a little five-year-old received a kindergarten graduation gift. The present was what most kids would kill to have; a go-cart. At a young age, Kevin started to receive attention and wins on the go-kart racing circuit. This young boy grew up to be one of the best race car drivers around.
He officially started his NASCAR career in 1995. He has had 45 wins at the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and 47 at the NASCAR Xfinity Series. He is only the third of five drivers to have won a championship in the Spring Cup series and the Xfinity Series.
Kyle Busch- 51 Wins And Counting
Kyle Busch or “Rowdy” is far from retired, so you might be wondering how he can be featured on a list of the greatest NASCAR drivers of all time. Well, by the end of the 2018 season, this all-star already had 51 career wins so it was only natural for him to be part of this list. The Las Vegas-born racer and younger brother to Kurt Busch started his career in 2003.
He quickly let the world know that he wasn’t going to be known only for being Kurt Busch’s younger brother. In 2015, Busch achieved his first big win when he won a Cup championship. He is now one of only five drivers to win a championship in the Spring Cup Series and the Xfinity Series.
Jim Paschal- 430 Races
Another North Carolina native and in our opinion the most underrated stock car racer on this list, Jim Paschal had a career that spanned for 23 years. During this time, he took home 25 wins and in 1977 received the title “Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame.” He also had twelve poles over his career.
In 1964 and 1967, he won the World 600 and in 1967 he held a race record for 335 laps led. This record wouldn’t be broken for another 49 years until 2016 when Martin Truex Jr. would lead with 392 laps. Paschal was strong in the short tracks, which could possibly be a reason for why he retired. After he retired, he worked as a farmer and owned a trucking company.