Ralph Earnhardt

Ralph Earnhardt

NASCAR Cup Series statistics
Best placement	17th - (1961)
Starts Victories Poles Top 10 51 - 1 16

Ralph Lee Earnhardt (born February 23, 1928 in Kannapolis , North Carolina , † September 26, 1973 ) was a NASCAR racing driver. He was the father of legendary seven-time Winston Cup champion Dale Earnhardt and the grandfather of Dale Earnhardt junior and Kerry Earnhardt . Ralph Earnhardt grew up in Kannapolis. He spent many years of his life in a cotton mill. To add variety to his everyday life, he started racing.

Career

Ralph Earnhardt started his career on "Dirt Tracks". He won hundreds of races and circuit championships on many different tracks in the United States in the years that followed. When he wasn't racing or not working, he worked on his racing cars. In 1956 he won the "NASCAR Sportsman Championship", the predecessor of today's Nationwide Series . He also managed to place himself in the top 10 of the drivers' overall classification for six consecutive years in the racing series.

Earnhardt also drove in the Grand National Series, NASCAR's highest racing division, now known as the Sprint Cup . He was active there from 1956 to 1964. During this time he contested 51 races. He reached the top 10 sixteen times and the top 5 six times. Even if he never showed this in NASCAR's elite league, he was an extremely talented driver. He has won more than 350 races in his 23-year NASCAR career. Most of them in regional NASCAR racing series.

He died of a heart attack on September 26, 1973 while he was working on one of his racing cars. In 1998 he was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers for his numerous successes .

Trivia

• In the movie "3: The Dale Earnhardt Story" he was played by JK Simmons .

Web links

Driver statistics on racing-reference.info