Buddy Baker (racing driver)
| status | not active | ||||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series statistics | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Best placement | 5th - (1977) | ||||||||
|
|||||||||
Elzie Wylie "Buddy" Baker Jr. (born January 25, 1941 in Florence , South Carolina , † August 10, 2015 in Catawba County , North Carolina ) was an American NASCAR racing driver. In 1998 he was selected as one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers . He is the son of two-time NASCAR Grand National Champion Buck Baker , who is also on the list of NASCAR's 50 greatest drivers.
Career
Buddy Baker knew early on in life that he wanted to become a racing driver, especially since he was the son of Buck Baker, one of the most successful NASCAR racing drivers. At the age of 18, he completed his first race on Columbia Speedway . He was an extremely ambitious racing driver who spent a lot of time watching his idols, including his father and Fireball Roberts . He also often took part in test drives. He completed his most important test on March 24, 1970 at the Alabama International Motor Speedway , where he was the first driver to achieve an average speed of more than 200 mph (322 km / h) on a closed circuit.
In the course of his career he crossed the finish line as the winner in 19 races of today's Sprint Cup , for the first time on October 15, 1967 at Charlotte Motor Speedway . With his victory in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway , he became the first driver to win the same race on the same track as his father. In addition, Buddy Baker is one of the few drivers who managed to win the "Big Four" of NASCAR, for which in addition to the Southern 500, the World 600 , the Winston 500 and the most prestigious NASCAR race, the Daytona 500 , had to be won . He won the Daytona 500 with the highest average speed ever driven in the race: 177.602 mph (285.809 km / h), a record that still stands today.
Apart from Baker, only Richard Petty , David Pearson , Bobby Allison , Darrell Waltrip , Dale Earnhardt , Jeff Gordon and Jimmie Johnson managed to win this NASCAR Grand Slam, but Baker was the only one of these drivers who never won the championship, which is probably also because he rarely drove as a full-time driver. In only three seasons he took part in all races; his best was the 1977 season , in which he finished fifth in the overall driver standings. In 1992, at the age of 51, he drove his last race on the Talladega Superspeedway.
It can be said with certainty that analyzing his idols and later competitors has paid off for Baker, because in a total of 700 races in the highest division of NASCAR, he finished 311 times in the top 10, 19 times he won, 38 times he started on pole position. In 1995 he was inducted into the Charlotte Motor Speedway Court of Legends and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame . In 1997 he was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame and in 1998 he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers. In 2008 he was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America .
After his career as a racing driver, Baker was active as a commentator for radio and television, most recently for the radio station Sirius Satellite Radio . He was also an important mentor in Jimmy Spencer's career . He ran the Buck Baker Racing School until his death . Baker died on August 10, 2015 at the age of 74 at his home on Lake Norman of complications from an inoperable lung tumor.
Web links
- www.buddybaker.com Internet presence of Buddy Baker
- Driver statistics on racing-reference.info
Individual evidence
- ↑ Buddy Baker dies at 74; NASCAR racer and commentator. In: Los Angeles Times , August 10, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Baker, buddy |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Baker Jr., Elzie Wylie |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American NASCAR racing driver |
| DATE OF BIRTH | January 25, 1941 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Florence , South Carolina |
| DATE OF DEATH | August 10, 2015 |
| Place of death | Catawba County , North Carolina |