Auto Racing

Buddy Baker had a legendary career in NASCAR and is honored and respected by all who know the sport. Buddy retired in nineteen ninety four at age 52 after thirty six years at the wheel in a career that began in 1959. Buddy can be proud of his career statistics. Baker had nineteen career first places in a total of 699 starts . Add to this 43 runner-up finishes and 58 third-place finishes. His good friend Richard Petty was very sure that with any luck Buddy would have won 50 races. Baker's career winnings exceeded $ three,500,000 in an era when the purses were small by today's standards. Baker ended his career at age 52 and then said "there comes a point when you simply got to say 'Hey it's been fun'".

Buddy Baker, son of the legendary Buck Baker didn't have a single win in stock- automobile until his ninth season. It was at Charlotte in 1967 that he had his first win in a Dodge prepaired by Ray Fox. there was a point after eight seasons where Baker questioned if he would ever have a win. He would race more than 200 times before winning his first race.

nineteen victories may not seem like much to some yet if you consider where those victories occurred then the exploit is quite impressive; four at Charlotte, four at Talladega, two each at Daytona, Darlington and Atlanta and wins at Michigan, Texas and Ontario.

Baker's favorite season was 1980. He won the Daytona 500 driving an impressive Olds prepared by Waddell Wilson that year. That black and gray impressive Olds was driven so fast by Baker that it came to be known as the "Grey Ghost" because it seemed to blend into the asphalt. Baker had averaged nearly 178 mph in winning that 500 and that is still the record today for this great event. That year, with the help of Waddell Wilson and the owner Harry Rainer he finished in the top ten ten times in only nineteen races.

As for his most memorable race, Baker would probable choose his win of the Winston 500 again in 1980 were he made up a 19 second shortfall to Dale Earnhardt whom he passed with just two laps to go. He earned the esteem of all other drivers at that Winston 500. They were all amazed at his skills at drafting behind leading cars passing them all to gain a victory that had seemed elusive. Baker was modest in victory. He was certain that Dale Earnhardt could have beaten him if he had a little more experience at the time. Years later Baker estimated that in his eyes Earnhardt was the best that ever was behind the wheel.

Baker was badly hurt at the Charlotte Coca-Cola 600 in 1989. He suffered a serious blow to the head that caused a huge clot which was removed in surgery. Somehow he never fully recovered his driving skills after that. Baker recovered from this accident and started 17 more races, retiring after a final crash in Atlanta during a qualifying lap. He had realized that he no longer had the stuff of champions.

Baker still maintains ties to the sport as a consultant to Penske South Racing.