CURTIS TURNER - 04/12/1924 - 10/04/1970
was an early NASCAR driver. In addition to his success in racing, he made a fortune, lost it, and remade it buying and selling timberlands. Throughout his life he developed a reputation for drinking and partying. During his career, he won 360 races in several different racing series, including 22 in the NASCAR Convertible Division in 1956, and 17 wins in the NASCAR Sprint Cup. From 1950 to 1954, he drove for Oldsmobile being billed as the Blond Blizzard of Virginia. He switched to driving Fords in 1954. Being able to see the racing industry from the business end, he developed a feeling that drivers deserved a better deal for their role in the sport. Together with Fireball Roberts and Tim Flock, he attempted to organize a union for them, the Federation of Professional Athletes, in 1961. "His aims are for better purses, a share in broadcasting rights and retirement benefits for the drivers." Unfortunately for him, NASCAR has never looked favorably on an organized union for the drivers, and Turner was banned for life. However, the ban was lifted after four years in 1965, and Turner returned to NASCAR racing. Bill France was in a bind and needed to mend some fences. 1962 and 1963 NASCAR-points champion Joe Weatherly was killed driving a Mercury at Riverside, California on January 19, 1964 and his star driver Fireball Roberts had died following a fiery crash on May 24, 1964, at
the World 600 in Charlotte. The track owners wanted Turner back. France was also short of cars. The Chrysler factory were boycotting NASCAR over the organizing body's ban of the Hemi engine, and Richard Petty went drag racing in the first half of the 1965 season. The Ford factory were also in dispute with NASCAR over the SOHC engine, which faced a joint NASCAR-USAC ban on December 17, 1965. Turner, then 41, soon notched the first victory of his comeback in a Ford at the inaugural American 500, at the North Carolina Motor Speedway, Rockingham, North Carolina, on October 31, 1965, winning a purse of $13,090. Turner lost his Ford ride in 1966 when: "Ford withdrew its factory backed racing teams from competition when the National Association for Stock Car Auto
Racing and the United States Auto Club ruled April 6 that Fords equipped with an overhead cam engine must carry 427 additional pounds. Turner started the 1966 season in a Ford, but with the Ford-factory withdrawal, he signed to drive a Chevrolet for Smokey Yunick out of Daytona Beach, Florida. The race win in 1965 would also be his final win. He did post six other top five finishes prior to when he quit racing in 1968. For his career, Turner ran in 184 CUP events winning 17 times. including the 1956 Southern 500. He also ran 79 convertible series races, and won a whopping 38 times. He won 22 of 42 events he ran in1956; but still finished second in the points chase as he did not run in five races. He won twice at the Convertible Beach Course and at Darlington among his 22 wins. He died in an airplane crash near Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on October 4, 1970. "Police said the aero-commander 500
piloted by Turner crashed shortly after taking off from the Dubois-Jefferson Airport en route to Roanoke." Some info from Wikipedia
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