DANNY LEWIS LETNER - 1/03/1928 - 3/30/2018
Letner was born in Downey, California. In 1951, Letner ran five NASCAR Cup Division races in cars owned by his father, Bert. He earned two top tens that year, with a best finish of eighth. Letner then competed in a handful of races each year from 1954 to 1957, adding seven more top tens. In 1954 he ran four races, the first at Gardena CA. This is a track he seemed to have a knack for getting around quick. He won the pole and led 105 of the scheduled 500 laps. John Soares won the race leading 211 of 496 laps, as on the official recount it was discovered the drivers liked four laps going the full distance, due to a scoring area. Lloyd Dane finished second and Letner third. His next start was at Oakland Stadium in Oakland CA. He started sixth and went on to take his first career Cup win, over Marvin Panch. In 1955, he again only ran four races. His worst finish in those races was a 14th place run at Las Vegas. He finished third at San Mateo, and won his second career race, this time at Tucson AZ. He and Allen Adkins battled over the last 100+ laps to see who would claim the winners trophy. Adkins was leading with three laps to go, but his car faltered, and Letner swept by to lead the final two circuits and get the win. In 1956 and 1957, he ran a combined total of 11 races, and only had one top ten finish. That came at Portland when he finished seventh. He only ran three additional races between 1959 and 1963. H is final top five finish came at Marchbanks
Speedway in Hanford CA when he finished third. In 1954, Letner won two races and finished in second place in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model standings. The next year, he won three races en route to a championship in his only full-time season. He won three of the twelve races he entered in 1957, his final season in the series. His final Cup start would come in 1963 at Riverside International Raceway in the 500 race. He started 28th and raced his way up to a ninth place finish. For his Cup career he made 27 starts, claimed two wins, five top five and ten top ten runs. In 1956, Letner ran 23 races in the inaugural season of the short-lived NASCAR Convertible Division, winning at Langhorne Speedway. He started second lead 124 of 150 laps, and lap the field beating Jimmy Massey. That year he made 23 of 47 starts. Got the one win, had seven top five runs, including second place finishes at Old Bridge Stadium
ARCA Win - Gardena 1957
Convertible win - Langhorne 1956
(NJ) and Monroe County Fairgrounds in Rochester NY. He also added three third place runs, as he finished 20th in points, even though he missed half of the races ran. Letner showed his stuff in what is now called the ARCA West series. He ran eight of nine races in 1954, but grabbed two wins. He won at Balboa Stadium in San Diego CA, and also at Oakland Stadium. He added top ten runs of second, third, fourth and seventh to finish second in the points. 1954 was his premier season. He ran all 14 races and claimed three wins. He won at Tucson beating Allen
Adkins. Then he won at Contra Costa Speedway in Walnut Creek CA beating Marvin Panch by more than a lap. He added a second place run at the track later in the year. His third win came at Gardena, a track he seemed to love, as he beat Sherman Clark by three laps. He added a second and a third place run also at Gardena. He ended up with ten top five finishes and won the points championship. 1956 saw him only run five races and had a best finish of fifth at Gardena. In his final year in the series he ran 12 of 14 races. He again won three times.... all three coming at Gardena. He ended up 15th in points. Letner retired from
Last Cup Start - Riverside 1963
stock car racing in the early 1960s, but later took up off-road racing. He won the SCORE Parker 400 in 1989 at the age of 61, and would go on to finish tied for second in the championship standings that year. In 2002, he was inducted into the first class of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.
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