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Freddie Lorenzen going into NASCAR Hall of Fame


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#1 Jerry Entin

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Posted 25 January 2015 - 16:03

Fred_Lorenzen_02_zpssfdg4h5a.jpg

Freddie Lorenzen, NASCAR's first Golden Boy, will be inducted in its Hall of Fame next weekend.

 

High time, since the 80-year old is not in the best of shape. He is wheelchair bound, suffers from limited short term memory and lives in an assisted living center near Chicago.

 
But he still remembers most of his races, like the one at Charlotte in 1965, where he beat some other greats to the finish: Curtis Turner, Dick Hutcherson and A.J. Foyt.
 
All research: Willem Oosthoek
photo: Hemmings Motor News Archives

Edited by Jerry Entin, 25 January 2015 - 20:50.


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#2 Jack-the-Lad

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Posted 25 January 2015 - 17:54

:clap:



#3 Jerry Entin

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Posted 25 January 2015 - 20:42

Fred Lorenzen's Race Statistics:
 
158 starts, 26 victories, 84 top-10 finishes, 33 poles, total winnings of $496,472
 
Lorenzen began racing while just out of high school in 1956, at tracks around the upper Midwest. After winning the USAC stock car championship in 1958 and 1959, he caught the attention of Charlotte's Ralph Moody, co-owner of the Holman & Moody team that campaigned factory-supported Fords in NASCAR. In 1961 Lorenzen moved to Charlotte to join the operation and he claimed three wins in 15 starts that year. Excelling on super Speedways, he was victorious 23 more times during the next six seasons. His best year was 1964, when he claimed first place eight times in 16 starts, all with cars prepared by Holman & Moody.
 
Lorenzen retired after 1967, only to make a brief comeback in 1970-1971. He won two poles but no victories. His race career came to an end after a practice crash for the 1971 Southern 500 at Darlington. Returning to Illinois, he built a successful real estate business.
 
all research: Willem Oosthoek


#4 hlfuzzball

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Posted 01 February 2015 - 00:40

In 1958, I was a high-school punk sitting in the grandstand at O'Hare Stadium near Chicago, when the P.A announcer bellowed that there was a special guest present that night. 

 

It was John Holman of Holman-Moody Ford fame who was there to check out the local Hot-Shoe named Lorenzen. Of course he must have been impressed, for he then hired Freddy for the start of a brilliant run in NASCAR.

 

Little did I know that I would later end up working for Ford in Dearborn, meeting John Holman in the course of the racing business, and being asked, more than once, to come work for him in Charlotte !  (I didn't)

 

I never, ever came close to making any Hall of Fame (Shame ?) , but Freddy and John Holman certainly did !

 

Of course that all just happened yesterday, didn't it ?       Yea   .... right.   ;)

 



#5 arttidesco

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Posted 01 February 2015 - 09:09

A sign of how things have changed I believe Fred was also the first driver to win over US$ 100,000 in a season in 1963 when he won 6 races from 29 starts out of a possible 55 races that were run that year.

 

Today just a couple of start and parks might net a driver a similar amount.