GWYN  EDWARD  STALEY   -   07/06/1927 - 03/23/1958

was a NASCAR Cup driver from Burlington, NC.  As a CUP driver, Staley had three wins in addition to 23 finishes in the top 5 and 41 finishes in the top 10.  He ran in 69 CUP events.  Out of 10,218 laps, Gwyn officially led 299 laps and accumulated a grand total of $23,284 in his seven-year career.  Notable appearances for Gwyn Staley have been at Hickory Motor Speedway (where he won the first race ever held there) and Langhorne Speedway (where he won a race in 1957 using a Chevrolet Bel Air.  Gwyn won three races driving the Julian Petty prepared 1957 Chevy Bel Air. ,The first win was on August 26, 1957 at the Coastal Speedway in Myrtle Beach, SC.  It was a 200-lap race and he lapped the field.  The second win came a few weeks later on September the 5th.  It was at the New York State Fairgrounds and once again he had lapped the field driving the Petty prepared 1957 Chevy.  His third and last win came on September the 15th in the same car at the Langhorne Speedway in Pennsylvania.  He had the field lapped twice this time.  North Wilkesboro Speedway named the race after him during the early 1970s.  His greatest successes came at road courses where his average finishes would be in ninth place.  Staley also competed in the NASCAR Convertible series.  He ran 47 events and won twice in three years.  In 1957 Staley finished seventh in the Convertible series points standings.  Eight days 

after scoring a second-place finish in the 150-lap Grand National race at Champion Speedway in Fayetteville, NC; Staley was killed in a NASCAR Convertible Division 100-mile race held at the Atlantic Rual Fairgrounds in Richmond VA. in March 1958.  The accident occurred early in the race when Staley's lost control after being struck by another racer. His car overturned three times and struck a fence.  The car came to rest upside down with Staley pinned underneath.  He died before the emergency squad could get him to the hospital.  The car he was driving was owned by Jule Petty, brother of racer Lee Petty.  Some info from Wikipedia. .

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