Bob Welborn

Robert Joe "Bob" Welborn (born May 5, 1928 in Denton , North Carolina , † February 11, 1997 ) was an American NASCAR racing driver. He was the NASCAR Convertible Division Champion in 1956, 1957 and 1958 and is one of the drivers selected as NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers , one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers , in 1998 .

Career

Welborn, known by the nickname "Bob", began his NASCAR career in 1952, when he took part in three races in the Grand National Division , now the Sprint Cup. Also in the 1953 season he was active again in the Grand National and drove eleven races. He finished two of these races in the top 5 and six in the top 10. In 1955 he drove almost all of the season's races and finished in the top 10 in 25 of the 32 races he took part in. Fourth place was enough in the overall driver standings.

In 1956 Welborn started in the newly established NASCAR Convertible Division , where he drove almost all of the season's races. As a result, he only took part in very few races in the Grand National Division. In the Convertible Division, he stood out because of his continuity. He finished almost every race in the top 10 and easily won the championship. The years 1957 and 1958 were similar and Welborn also won the title in these two years. In the 1959 NASCAR Convertible Division season he no longer started in all races because he concentrated more on the Grand National, so he had no chance of the title. At the end of the 1959 season, the series was disbanded due to insufficient interest. Welborn was the best driver in the racing series' short history.

In the following years Welborn concentrated on the Grand National Division, in which he drove very few races in the previous years due to his use in the Convertible Division, but of which he won some. His first win was in 1957 in the Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway . The race is still on the racing calendar today under the name Subway 500 . In the last years of his career he was unable to build on these successes. Wilborn ended his career as a NASCAR racing driver on July 21, 1964 at Lincoln Speedway .

He died on February 11, 1997. In 1998, he was selected as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers , one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers .

Web links

Driver statistics on racing-reference.info