Joe Weatherly

Joseph "Joe" Weatherly (born May 29, 1922 in Norfolk , Virginia , † January 19, 1964 in Riverside , California ) was an American NASCAR racing driver and two-time Winston Cup champion and three-time champion in the American Motorcyclist Association .

Life

Before motorsport

Before Weatherly began his career in motorsport, he served in the Second World War, the armed forces of the United States and fought in North Africa . He was wounded in the face by a German sniper, whose scars later earned him the nickname "Clown Prince of Automobile Racing".

Motorcycling

In the years 1946 to 1950 Weatherly won a total of three times the national championship of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), including the prestigious Laconia Classic 100-mile race in 1948. For it was his performance as a motorcyclist in 1998 in the Motorcycle AMA Hall of Fame inducted .

NASCAR

In 1950 Weatherly switched from motorcycle racing to touring car racing. He won the very first race he competed in, as well as 48 of the 82 other races he took part in that season. In the 1952 season he won the championship in the NASCAR Modified National Series. Again he won 49 of a total of 83 races in which he started. In the following season he won 52 races and secured the championship again.

In the 1956 season Weatherly switched to the Grand National Cup series and drove a Ford for Peter DePaolo in the first year . In the following season he changed teams and drove for Holman Moody .

In 1961, Weatherly won the Most Popular Driver Award before winning the championship for Bud Moore Engineering for two consecutive years in the 1962 and 1963 seasons.

Weatherly is listed among NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers .

death

Joe Weatherly died on January 19, 1964 in a racing accident during the fifth race of the season at Riverside International Raceway when his head was thrown into a boundary wall when he was hit from the car and he sustained a fatal head injury. He was buried in his hometown of Norfolk.

After the accident, the discussion began about the introduction of a safety net at the position of the driver's window, which was prescribed by NASCAR in 1971 and which are still in use.

Web links

• Driver statistics on racing-reference.info