By Richard Tix
NASCAR Behind the Wall will take a short look at each 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame Inductee. These articles will be spread out in time until the 2015 Hall of Fame induction (mostly depending on how much free time I find).
Previous 2015 HoF Driver Articles: Wendell Scott
Lets start here, Fred Lorenzen came before my time (raced from 1956-1972). Even though he came before my time that does not mean he was not a big part of NASCAR history. Fred was one of the first superstars in NASCAR. Now, that has been said about a few drivers but Fred really was a star.
He was a very popular driver at the time and along the way picked up many nicknames, including "Golden Boy" and "Fast Freddie." He reached this fan popularity even though he never ran a full season in NASCAR's top tier. The closest he ever got was when he ran 29 of 55 races in 1963. In that season he had 6 wins, 21 top 5's, and 23 top 10's in those 26 races.
When looking back at historic NASCAR drivers it is always a "what if" kind of outlook. 12 years is not a long career as a NASCAR driver and the fact that he never was really close to competing full time make his accomplishments all the more astonishing.
In 1961 Fred Lorenzen joined the Holman Moody team to become there lead racer. Fred was puzzled as to what he had done to deserve the spot, but he didn't complain. Well, Ralph Moody must have known something because 1961 started a 7 year streak where Lorenzen had at least 1 win. In that 7 year stretch Fast Freddie accumulated 26 wins, 61 top 5's, and 65 top 10's in 112 races.
If you are keeping track, that means over half the time (58%) he finished in the top 10 and top 5 (54.5%). Also during that stretch he won a race 23.2% of the time which is one of the best streaks in NASCAR. During this same stretch he won countless prestigious races on the NASCAR schedule including the 1965 Daytona 500.
The last season of his amazing 7 year stretch, 1967, he only ran 5 races (winning 1 and finishing top 5 a total of 3 times). He did not race again in the top tier until 1970 when he made his comeback. His come back was to little avail as he simmered out in his last 3 years just enjoying racing and bouncing around from car to car.
Fred Lorenzen's 7 year streak was something to remember him by. Since he never ran more than 29 races in a season he never competed for a title but he knew how to win and how to win the big races. If you think of it this way he was racing for money and not points as he came out strong in big events. He may have never won a title but he was one of the first superstars and was definitely one of the most popular drivers of his time.
Some extra Fred Lorenzen Photo's:
Congratulations Fred Lorenzen on you 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame Induction
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