Fred Lorenzen never won a NASCAR Cup Series championship, but that certainly does not take away from the impact he had on the sport in its formative years. Lorenzen passed away on 18 December after battling dementia for over two decades, 12 days before his 90th birthday on Monday.
Lorenzen began competing in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series in 1956, finishing 26th at Langhorne for his family-run team. By 1961, he was finding opportunities with teams like Holman-Moody and Wood Brothers Racing, winning for the first time later that year at Martinsville.
As the sixties progressed, the Illinois native found himself becoming one of the most iconic drivers of the deeply Southern sport. In 1963, he became the first driver to win over $100,000 in prize money en route to a third-place points finish.
It was his highest championship placement despite only entering half the races, which naturally begs the question of whether he could have won a title had he elected to run more races (1963 was the only season in which Lorenzen raced more than 20 rounds in an era where seasons stretched nearly 50 dates).
Headlining Lorenzen’s trophy case was the 1965 Daytona 500, and he also won current crown jewels on the Cup Series schedule like what is now the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte, the Food City 500 at Bristol, and the spring race at Darlington. He notched 26 Grand National wins in his career, the last being a 1967 Daytona 500 qualifying race before going on to finish second behind team-mate Mario Andretti.
Lorenzen and the Yellow Banana
While heavily associated with Holman-Moody, Lorenzen also resides in NASCAR infamy with his “Yellow Banana” Ford Galaxie that he ran in the 1966 race at Atlanta.
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Developed by the great Junior Johnson to entice Ford into resuming their factory support, it acquired the moniker because of its yellow colour and bizarre shape: much of the car, particularly at the front, was pushed as low as possible while the rear onwards jutted upwards, and the roof and windscreen were lowered to such absurd levels that Lorenzen struggled to climb inside.
Lorenzen ultimately retired with a mechanical failure, but the car is considered the most illegal vehicle to compete in NASCAR’s history and prompted the sanctioning body to begin using templates for inspection.
Lorenzen retired after 1972 and settled down in Chicago, where he live until his death. He was inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015. Even without a title, his victories on the circuit’s biggest races and his superstar status earned him the nickname “Golden Boy”.
“Fred Lorenzen was one of NASCAR’s first true superstars,” begins a statement from Chairman Jim France. “A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots. Fred was the picture-perfect NASCAR star, helping to bring the sport to the silver screen – which further grew NASCAR’s popularity during its early years.
“For many years, NASCAR’s ‘Golden Boy’ was also its gold standard, a fact that eventually led him to the sport’s pinnacle, a rightful place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. On behalf of the France family and all of NASCAR, I want to offer our condolences to the family and friends of Fred Lorenzen.”
