ROBERT VANCE "BOBBY" ISAAC - 08/01/1932 - 08/14/1977
began racing full-time in 1956, but it took him seven years to break into the NASCAR Cup division full time. His first Cup start would come at Charlotte. He would run in the first qualifying race for the World 600 and finish 18th falling out after only two laps. Apparently he missed the race as he made no other starts until 1963. That year he ran 27 of the 55 events and posted three top five finishes. He had a best finish of third at Columbis (SC) Speedway. 1964-1968 Isaac raced part time in the Cup series. 1964 saw him claim his first Cup Series win. It would come in the second qualifying race for the Daytona 500. On the final lap Richard Petty had a 27 second lead; Petty ran out of gas on the back stretch and had to coast all the way back to the finish line. Meanwhile Isaac and Pardue were battling side by side for second. They came up on Ralph Earnhardt's lapped car entering the tri-oval, split around him and came up on Petty who was coasting at around 30 mph on the apron. The three crossed the finish line side-by-side, all thinking they had won. 4 hours later, television footage showed Isaac won but it took another day to decide who finished second. In 1967 Isaac took over the K&K Insurance Dodge and in 1968 he would win his first full length race. It
would come at Columbia SC. He would start sixth; lead 186 of the 200 laps beating out Charlie Glotzbach to get the win. This would also be Isaac's first full time season in NASCAR. He would claim three wins and finish second in the points chase. 1969 was an awesome year for Bobby as he would win 17 times and post 29 top five finishes in 54 events. He finished sixth in the points however due to only running 50 of the 54 events. Bobby would win at the race track where I used to be a race official - (Peach State Speedway in Jefferson GA.). 1970 saw Isaac take the checkered flag first on eleven occasions. In this season he ran 47 of 48 events and won the Cup Championship. Isaac won the championship in 1970 driving the #71 Dodge Charger Daytona sponsored by K&K Insurance with his crew chief the legendary Harry Hyde. Isaac & Hyde took the car to Talladega in November of that year and set a closed-course speed record. After winning the
1970 Dodge Daytona
Championship he cut way back on his racing as he only ran 25 of 48 races; and he still managed to win four times; including the Fire Cracker 400. His final win would come in 1972 at Rockingham. He would start first, lead 210 of the 492 laps and beat Richard Petty by over a lap. From this point, through 1976, Bobby only ran a hand full of races. His final start came at Charlotte in the World 600. He started 34th but blew a motor on lap 39 and finished 38th. Isaac won 37 races in NASCAR's top series during his career, including 11 in his championship season, and started from the pole position 50 times. All of his 37 wins came in the #71; with the same K&K Insurance as
sponsor; and all was when he drove for owner Nord Krauskopf. He took 20 poles in a single season in 1969. This NASCAR record will be hard to beat since there are currently 36 races on the schedule. According to Isaac a strange "voice" in the car told him to retire from the Talladega race in 1973 because it threatened he would be killed. (Earlier in the race, another driver named Larry Smith died in an accident.). Bobby Isaac was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1979, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1998 NASCAR honored Isaac as one of its NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers of all time. Unfortunately, Bobby did not live to enjoy any of the accolades. He pulled out of a 1977 Late Model Sportsman race at Hickory Motor Speedway with 25 laps left, and called for a relief driver,
1973 Sta-Power Ford
collapsing on pit road. Though he was revived briefly at the hospital, a heart attack in the early morning hours proved fatal to the 45-year-old. Isaac also made his mark outside of NASCAR. In September 1971, he went to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and set 28 world speed records, some of which still stand. Bobby Isaac was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1979, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1998 NASCAR honored Isaac as one of its 50 greatest drivers. On May 20, 2015, Isaac was announced as a member of the 2016 induction class to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Some info from Wikipedia
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