![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/FredL.webp?resize=300%2C300\")
Fred Lorenzen. Photo courtesy of NASCAR<\/p><\/div>\n
Lorenzen won 26 times in his Cup career, emerging as a star after connecting with the powerful Holman-Moody Ford factory team in the early 1960s. As both speedways and purses grew in size in that timeframe, Lorenzen became the first NASCAR driver to earn more than $100,000 in a single season in 1963. Among his marquee wins were the 1965 Daytona 500 _ \u201cThe Great American Race\u201d _ at Daytona International Speedway and two victories in the series\u2019 longest event, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, N.C.<\/p>\n
\u201cFred Lorenzen was one of NASCAR\u2019s first true superstars. A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots,\u201d NASCAR Chairman\/CEO Jim France said. \u201cFred was the picture-perfect NASCAR star, helping to bring the sport to the \u2018silver screen\u2019 _ which further grew NASCAR\u2019s popularity during its early years. For many years, NASCAR\u2019s \u2018Golden Boy\u2019 also was its gold standard, a fact that eventually led him to the sport\u2019s pinnacle, a rightful place in the NASCAR Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn behalf of the France Family and all of NASCAR, I want to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Fred Lorenzen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lorenzen was recognized by many nicknames, including \u201cGolden Boy\u201d for his dashing looks and ease during TV interviews in an era when most NASCAR races were shown primarily on a delayed basis on ABC\u2019s Wide World of Sports.<\/em> Lorenzen\u2019s charm, combined with his on-track success, led him to win the series\u2019 Most Popular Driver Award on two occasions.<\/p>\n Fred Lorenzen. Photo courtesy of NASCAR<\/p><\/div>\n Lorenzen also was dubbed the \u201cElmhurst Express\u201d in a nod to his Illinois hometown, in addition to the alliterative \u201cFast Freddie\u201d or \u201cFearless Freddie.\u201d But those nicknames belied a smooth, measured approach that was in sharp contrast to his go-for-broke, Southern-born predecessors, including Junior Johnson and Curtis Turner.<\/p>\n Frederick Lorenzen Jr. was born on Dec. 30, 1934 and grew up in the suburban Illinois town of Elmhurst, about 20 miles west of the Chicago Loop. He was initially drawn to stock car racing by listening to broadcasts during backyard campouts or on his father\u2019s car radio. His first competitive driving experience came in drag racing at age 19. When not racing, carpentry was his trade.<\/p>\n After four years of straight-line competition, Lorenzen turned to oval tracks, making his NASCAR debut in 1956. Following a fruitless seven-race stint in his own equipment, he turned to driving in the rival U.S. Auto Club (USAC) Stock Car division. He won 12 times in USAC competition, claiming the series championship in back-to-back seasons in 1958-59. Meanwhile, as Lorenzen evolved into a regular winner at O\u2019Hare Stadium\u2019s quarter-mile oval near his hometown, the lure of a NASCAR return became strong.<\/p>\n \u201cI had an important decision to make _ to stick with USAC and eventually get into the big race at Indianapolis (Motor Speedway) or join NASCAR, the world\u2019s largest auto race organization which specializes in stock-car events,\u201d Lorenzen told the Arlington Heights Herald <\/em>in July 1960. \u201cSince stock cars are the type of racing I know the most about and since NASCAR\u2019s prize monies are the highest anywhere, I made my change. Up to now, however, I must admit that I had begun wondering if I had made the right move and if I was actually good enough for NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n His performance that season during his foray into the South helped to prove his worth, as Lorenzen posted top-five finishes in a pair of races at Daytona International Speedway and one at Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Ga., in his own equipment. Lorenzen\u2019s results in both series sparked interest from other car owners, as did his studious approach to his race craft.<\/p>\n Some rival teams mocked his insistence on pit-stop coaching and drills during an era when that practice was uncommon. But that emphasis paid off with quicker service and positions gained during a race.<\/p>\n \u201c(Other drivers) partied; they were out to go fast and live the life. But when my dad came in, he was business,\u201d daughter Amanda Lorenzen Gardstrom said in a 2014 interview. \u201c\u2026 After every time he won a race, he\u2019d call the stock broker and want to know the best way to invest that (purse money). He insisted that his pit crew was ready to go at 7 o\u2019clock in the morning every day _ clean white suits and ready to work. They all worked, and they planned and had strategies as a team.\u201d<\/p>\n Herb Nab, who later worked as Lorenzen\u2019s crew chief, added, \u201cFreddie was a stickler. He worried about everything. He wanted everything to be just-so. He was never satisfied unless it was. Maybe that was the key to his success. He wanted perfection, and he made sure he got it.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen already had moved his family to Charlotte, N.C., before the 1960 season, connecting with high profile team-owners John Holman and Ralph Moody. A phone call on Christmas Eve changed his career arc, with the invitation to compete for Holman-Moody full-time, becoming one of the centerpiece drivers for Ford\u2019s factory effort in a series of pearly white No. 28 Galaxies.<\/p>\n \u201cBiggest day of my life. A miracle, that\u2019s what it was,\u201d Lorenzen told TNT Sports in 2009. \u201cEverybody waits for this, but you make your own way. I earned it, I guess. That\u2019s what Ralph (Moody) said, \u2018You\u2019re here because they want you. They like the way you ran it, the way you drive. You don\u2019t jump out-front, you just cool it and wait, take your time.\u2019^\u201d<\/p>\n Holman\u2019s son, Lee, said Lorenzen was a natural fit with the Holman-Moody operation, known for its meticulous attention to detail. \u201cAll he\u2019d ever done is race,\u201d Lee Holman told NASCAR.com in 2014. \u201cHe was a famous Illinois dirt-tracker before he came to us and had done real well in other series, so it wasn\u2019t like we trained him and made him what he was. We just gave him an opportunity to move into NASCAR.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen wasted little time getting acclimated to his new surroundings, winning three times and netting four pole positions in his 15 starts in 1961. Holman-Moody focused on NASCAR\u2019s larger and higher-paying events, so Lorenzen never ran a full campaign at the Cup Series level in the No. 28 Ford. The closest he came was participation in 29 of 55 events in 1963, when he won six races and closest he came was participation in 29 of 55 events in 1963, when he won six races and became the first driver to break the six-figure mark in prize money in a single season.<\/p>\n By the time he assembled an eight-win season in 1964 _ a stretch featuring five consecutive victories and a grand slam at NASCAR\u2019s four biggest speedways at the time _ Lorenzen had gone from promising newcomer to one of the sport\u2019s most compelling stars. Considered by some to be an outsider because of his Illinois-based roots, Lorenzen quickly earned the respect of his established stock-car peers.<\/p>\n \u201cCertainly, Freddie is for real, and I have nothing but praise for him,\u201d Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts told The Charlotte News <\/em>in May 1964. \u201cHe has so many things going for him as well as luck, which you must have in this business. First, Freddie has the finest machinery. He also has splendid mechanics in Herb Nab and Wayne Mills, who know how to set up a car. But the man who makes this team go is Lorenzen.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen\u2019s legend on NASCAR\u2019s largest tracks was established by the time he prevailed in the first rain-shortened Daytona 500 in 1965. He drove away from late contact with Marvin Panch as a shower sprang up on the backstretch, staying in front when more rain halted the event after 133 of the scheduled 200 laps around the high-banked\/2.5-mile oval.<\/p>\n Though he kept winning at a substantial clip, Lorenzen\u2019s career began to slow the next two seasons. In 1966, Ford\u2019s boycott of NASCAR\u2019s engine rules limited Lorenzen to just 11 starts. The next season, Lorenzen made just five appearances before abruptly retiring on April 24 at age 32, battling health issues and tiring of the circuit\u2019s constant travel demands.<\/p>\n \u201cI guess every athlete wants to quit when he\u2019s on top,\u201d Lorenzen told a crowd gathered during a retirement banquet thrown by Ford\u2019s racing division. \u201cI know I\u2019m slowing down and have been a little more cautious in the last year-and-a-half. Plus, I haven\u2019t been feeling too well lately. The ulcer is a small one, but it sure takes a lot out of you. I added up all these things and decided that now was the time to quit.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen had invested much of his prize money and endorsement revenue, and remained active in the stock market. He also stayed busy by offering occasional help to Holman-Moody and car-owner Bondy Long and working as a realtor. Lorenzen also made his movie-screen debut, playing himself in the campy 1968 film, The Speed Lovers.<\/em><\/p>\n Still, the draw of competition remained strong with Lorenzen, who hinted in November 1969 that he might attempt a return. His comeback race was next year\u2019s World 600, which he led for 47 laps before the engine let go on his Richard Howard-owned Dodge.<\/p>\n \u201cThe day I quit I said I knew I\u2019d be back some day,\u201d Lorenzen said, while also admitting, \u201cI think I waited too long.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen\u2019s return spanned 29 races from 1970-72. He claimed two pole positions, but the closest he came to winning was a runner-up result at Dover International Speedway in Delaware in 1971. That return also was marred by heavy crashes at Darlington Raceway in South Carolina and the former Ontario Motor Speedway in Southern California.<\/p>\n Tragically, a head-on highway accident injured Lorenzen and his father and killed the other driver in January 1971. A final comeback attempt with the pioneering Wood Brothers at Darlington resulted in a severe wreck in testing. Lorenzen\u2019s second retirement stuck after his dissatisfaction with some of his Hoss Ellington-led crew boiled over before Charlotte\u2019s 500-miler.<\/p>\n \u201cI had gone to the track before 8 a.m. My crew wasn\u2019t there,\u201d Lorenzen later recalled to Bob Myers of The Charlotte News.<\/em> \u201cOthers teased me that they\u2019d been in a lounge partying all night. I just couldn\u2019t tolerate mixing business with pleasure or the razzing. I had not won in 30 races. I had lost my Holman and Moody crew. The driver cannot do it alone. I got disgusted and left.\u201d<\/p>\n Lorenzen continued as a top-earning realtor in the Chicago area after his racing days. Even in retirement, the accolades kept coming. Lorenzen was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1978, the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1991 and NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015.<\/p>\n As his health declined and his memory loss advanced in his later years, Lorenzen became the second known driver to pledge his brain in 2016 to the Concussion Legacy Foundation and Boston University. Both are leading partners in the research of concussions among athletes and chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), a degenerative brain disease. Lorenzen\u2019s family drew inspiration from Dale Earnhardt Jr.\u2019s decision to do the same weeks earlier and his advocacy for neurological health.<\/p>\n It\u2019s another layer in the legacy of a Golden Boy from a golden era, one whose popularity endures.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fans are what make you run, and they were my heroes. They make you go fast,\u201d Lorenzen told TNT in 2009. \u201cIt was a dream come true. All the work you did all your life, it\u2019s something you can\u2019t describe.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen, a prominent personality during the sport\u2019s popularity rise in the 1960s, died on Dec. 18, 2024. Mr. Lorenzen, who had dealt with dementia, was 89. Lorenzen won 26 times in his Cup career, emerging as a star after connecting with the powerful Holman-Moody Ford factory team in the early […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":49202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[971,16],"class_list":["post-49196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nascar","tag-fred-lorenzen","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1.-GettyImages-81694867-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1994&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-cNu","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49196","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49196"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49196\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49204,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49196\/revisions\/49204"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49196"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49196"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49196"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/12\/1.-GettyImages-81694867.jpg?resize=300%2C234\")