Past Modified Champion
Farmer to be Honored at Martinsville
As part of the season-long celebration of 60 Years of Modified
Champions, 1956 NASCAR Modified titlist Red Farmer will be
honored at the Made In American Whelen 300 on Saturday, Sept. 20
at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
Farmer, a member of the famed “Alabama Gang,” captured the 1956
NASCAR Modified championship by a 118-point margin against Sam
DiRusso.
“There were three of us, along with Fred Schweikert, close
enough to win the championship, and the last race we ran was in
Concord, North Carolina,” Farmer said. “In fact, I think Ralph
Earnhardt was in that race in a Sportsman car, and we both got
our championships in that last race.”
Named one of “NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers” in 1998, Farmer has
had a checkered racing career that, now in his mid-70’s, still
continues today. Along with NASCAR, Farmer is celebrating his
own 60-year anniversary of racing in 2008.
A resident of Hueytown, Ala., Farmer still competes on a
part-time basis in dirt Late Models at Talladega Short Track and
other regional venues. He’s even wheeled against some of today’s
brightest NASCAR Sprint Cup Series stars each of the last four
years in Tony Stewart’s Prelude to the Dream race at Eldora
Speedway.
Originally from Hialeah, Fla., Farmer started his racing career
in 1946. A competitor for many years in the NASCAR Modified
Division and NASCAR Nationwide Series (then known as Sportsman),
Farmer found Victory Lane on numerous occasions. In addition to
his 1956 NASCAR Modified championship, Farmer won
three-consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series titles from 1969-71.
Farmer also made 36 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (then known
as Grand National), starts from 1953-75. His last appearance in
one of NASCAR’s national divisions came in 1992 with two starts
in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Always a favorite at the track, Farmer was named the NASCAR
Modified Most Popular Driver in 1968 and was a four-time winner
of the award in the NASCAR Nationwide Series.
Farmer is a member of the inaugural class of the
Talladega-Texaco Walk of Fame in 1998 along with fellow “Alabama
Gang” members Bobby and Donnie Allison and Neil Bonnett and is
also a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame.
Farmer has fond memories of racing at Martinsville against
drivers such as Sonny Hutchins, Ray Hendrick, Emanuel Zervakis
and Glen Wood.
“I look forward to coming back up there [Martinsville] to see
the track, I haven’t been there in so many years and there’s
been so many changes to it,” Farmer said. “Everybody used to ask
me how to get around Martinsville, and I’d tell them that you
need a dragster with air brakes.”
In addition to honoring Farmer’s 1956 Modified title and career
accomplishments, NASCAR will also recognize a pair of champions
that are no longer with us; Eddie Crouse and Joe Weatherly.
Crouse, who made a name for himself at South Boston Speedway,
earned back-to-back NASCAR Modified national titles in 1962 and
1963. From Glen Allen, Va., Crouse won 13 of 77 races and
finished second 11 times while competing throughout the eastern
seaboard and finished 1,072 points ahead of Ed Flemke Sr. for
his first title in 1962. He earned his second title in a row by
distancing himself from runner-up Runt Harris by 1,172 points
with eight feature wins, seven runner-ups and a host of
top-fives in 58 races during his 1963 title run. Crouse, who was
inducted in the Virginia Motorsports Hall of Fame earlier this
year, passed away in 2004 at the age of 78.
Weatherly, who gained fame as a two-time NASCAR Sprint Cup
Series champion, earned his first NASCAR title in the Modified
division in 1953. After finishing second to Frankie Schneider in
the national title chase the previous year, Weatherly returned
the favor in 1953 as he finished 976 points ahead of Schneider.
His 1953 title featured track championships at Royall Speedway
in Richmond, Va., and Princess Anne Speedway in Norfolk, Va.
A native of Norfolk, Va., Weatherly captured 25 wins in the
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series prior to his death in 1964 at the age
of 41. Weatherly, who was first a motorcycle racer before moving
to cars, also compiled 12 wins in NASCAR’s Convertible Division.
He is a member of the International Motorsports Hall of Fame and
was named one of “NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers.”
The Made In American Whelen 300 will be the 13th of 16 races on
the 2008 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour schedule. A combination
race with the NASCAR Whelen Southern Modified Tour, the green
flag is set to drop in Martinsville on Saturday, Sept. 20 and
3:30 p.m. For ticket information please visit Martinsville’s
official Web site (martinsvillespeedway.com).
Source: Jason
Cunningham/NASCAR WMT PR
Posted:
September 16, 2008
