JAMES  ROY  "JIM"  PASCHAL  Jr   -   12/05/1926 - 07/05/2004

was a NASCAR Grand National and Winston Cup driver.  He was there "at the beginning" racing in the first NASCAR Cup Series race; held at Charlotte.  He claimed his first Cup win in 1953 as he drove to victory at Martinsville out running Lee Petty.  He would win again at Martinsville the following year, once again out distancing Lee Petty.  I guess the Petty's figured "if you can't beat him, hire him" as Paschal drove for the Petty team from 1958-1964.  He accumulated 12 wins over that span; including the World 600 in 1964.  His strongest racing was found on short tracks where he would finish an average of 11th place.  23 of his 25 wins came on tracks 5/8 mile or smaller.  Of course his other two wins came in the Crown Jewel race World 600 at the 1 1/2 mile Charlotte Motor Speedway.  Paschal would find his weakness on road courses, where the sharp corners and the right turns would cause him to finish in an agonizing 27th place on average.  His final win 

would come at Montgomery Speedway in Alabama.  Once again he outran a Petty (this time Richard) to get the victory.  Paschal won 25 races and 12 poles over his career.  Elected to the "Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame" in 1977.  He competed in the first 18 Southern 500s (1950–1967) and won 16 of 73 Grand American races (1969–1972).  Paschal's 1967 win in the World 600 established a race record of 335 laps led, which would not be broken until 2016 when Martin Truex Jr. led 392 laps.  Paschal died on July 5, 2004, in Atlanta, Georgia following a battle with cancer.  Some info from Wikipedia.

1961 Nashville win

1963 Birmingham win

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