FANTASY NASCAR Racin

Stacy was originally from Kentucky. He was a veteran of World War II, serving as a tank driver in the U.S. Third Army under the command of General George S. Patton. After returning from the war, he drove taxis for a while. Stacy made his first start in the Cup Series in 1952. He raced on the 1/2 mile dirt track at Dayton Speedway in OH. It was a 300 lap affair, and Fonty Flock was the class of the field. He led 261 of the first 263 laps before he had issues with his fuel tank. From there Dick Rathman picked up the lead, and held on to beat Lee Petty by five seconds to get the win. Stacy started17th in the race, and would finish 12th. He would not run another Cup race again until 1961. He then decided it would be best to drive in the MARC Series (Midwest Association for Race Cars - later the ARCA Menards Series). He lost the 1957 title to Iggy Katona by 4.5 points, one of the slimmest margins in series history. Stacy's move enabled him to win the series championship in 1958, 1959 and 1960. He had wins in 1957, 1959 and 1960 at Canfield Speedway. In 1959, he started the season in April, by winning two of three races (Dayton and Canfield). After a decade in the MARC series, Stacy decided to give NASCAR Cup racing another try. In 1961, he returned to NASCAR competition at age 40, competing in 15 of the 52 scheduled races. In

the season opening Daytona 500 he would start 13th, but have an engine expire and finish 44th, completing just 79 laps. He had a great run at Atlanta, finishing fourth behind winner Bob Burdick. In his 15 starts, be had mechanical issues in six of them. From blown motors, to rear-end issues, to over heating; he had issues. But it wasn't all bad news. In his first career start in the historic Southern 500; he came home with the win. He would start third, and lead 72 laps. A yellow flew with 18 laps to go and Fireball Roberts leading. Roberts had led 180 laps and had a stout car. The final green flag flew with eleven laps to go and Roberts at the point. But Stacy hounded Fireball, and managed to get past with seven laps to go. He would hold on to the lead to get his first career Cup win. For the season he had four top five, and eight top ten finishes. So, if Stacy's car held together, he posted a good finish. 1962 would be his best season. He again only ran 15 of the years 53 races. He again had motor issues in the Daytona 500, and finished 43rd. The

next three starts, he fell out with transmission failure, rear end failure, and a crash. Again, when he was able to finish the race, he was tough. At Darlington in the Rebel 300 he started third and only led 15 laps. He passed Marvin Panch on the final lap to steal the win. The next race was the World 600, and is always tough on equipment. Jimmy Pardue had a strong run, leading 119 laps. But he had issues as he was caught up in a crash after just 190 laps. David Pearson was strong, leading 208 laps, with Stacy on his rear bumper. Stacy forced Pearson to over-extend his car, as David would fall out with a blown motor just seven

laps from the end; but still finished seventh. Stacy easily got the win by almost a lap over Joe Weatherly. A couple more races, saw a couple more issues with equipment. But the next four race stretch saw Stacy's car hold together to run the full distance, and he posted four finishes in the top seven. He was seventh at Darlington in the Southern 500, and seventh at North Wilkesboro. He came home fifth at Bristol, and got the season's third win at Martinsville, beating runner up Richard Petty by three laps. For the year he fell out of 8 of his 15 starts. The other seven races he posted three wins, a second, a fifth and two sevenths.

This season would be that last year he won a Cup race. He only ran 12 races in 1963, but he had four top five and nine top ten finishes. In 1964 and 1965 he only made one start each year. In 1964, he raced the Southern 500, but had a driveshaft fail after only five laps. His final Cup start came in the Daytona 500 in 1965. He started tenth, but was one of a whopping 26 starters to fall out. He ended 24th. For his career Stacy made 45 Cup starts, won on four occasions, and posted 13 top five, and 24 top ten results. It is interesting to note that he completed just 24 races. Stacy spent his final years in Florida, where he owned a car dealership. He died on May 14, 1986, at the age of 64

Fantasy NASCAR Racing

NELSON STACY - 12/28/1921 - 5/14/1986