NASCAR Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen, one of the sport's biggest stars of the 1960s and the 1965 Daytona 500 champion, died Wednesday following a long period of battling dementia. He was 89.
A native of Elmhurst, Ill. in the suburbs of Chicago, Lorenzen rose to prominence as a race car driver in USAC competition, winning two consecutive USAC Stock Car championships in 1958 and 1959 before receiving the opportunity to drive for the legendary Holman-Moody team in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series. After making 17 previous NASCAR starts between 1956 and 1960, Lorenzen would see his career take off when he began driving for Holman-Moody in 1961, winning three races that year before embarking on one of the greatest periods of success in NASCAR's early years.
The NASCAR family mourns the loss of Hall of Famer Fred Lorenzen. pic.twitter.com/szcPwjBGLc
— NASCAR (@NASCAR) December 18, 2024
From 1962 to 1967, Lorenzen would win 23 Cup Series races in a six-year span, a streak that included a 1963 season in which he became the first driver to ever make more than $100,000 in winnings in a single season. That feat reverberated beyond NASCAR, as it made Lorenzen the second-highest paid athlete in the United States that year, behind only golf icon Arnold Palmer. He would follow that up with a career-high eight wins in 1964, all of which came on NASCAR's major racetracks including Darlington, Charlotte, Atlanta, Bristol, Martinsville and North Wilkesboro.
In 1965, Lorenzen's greatest accomplishment came when he won his first and only Daytona 500, taking the lead from Marvin Panch past the halfway point and then holding on before rain ended the race prematurely at Lap 133. Lorenzen would follow his Daytona 500 triumph up with his second victory in the World 600 at Charlotte, giving him three total wins in NASCAR's crown jewel races.
Lorenzen's charm and handsomeness looks made him immensely popular, earning him the nickname of "Golden Boy" as he became one of the first NASCAR drivers to garner mass appeal. However, he would bring his stardom to a premature end when he retired early in the 1967 season at only 32 due to health issues and the fatigue of racing full-time. After stepping out of the driver's seat, Lorenzen would become one of the first NASCAR drivers to cross over into show business, parlaying his appeal into an acting role as himself in the 1968 film "The Speed Lovers."
Though Lorenzen would return in 1970 and make 29 starts between 1970 and 1972, he would not win a race again and returned to Chicago to enjoy a successful career as a realtor.
Lorenzen was named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998 (and was again named to the 75 Greatest Drivers list in 2023), and in 2015 would receive the ultimate honor of being named to the NASCAR Hall of Fame. But sadly, his later years would be marked by health issues and cognitive decline. In 2016, Lorenzen pledged to donate his brain to the Concussion Legacy Foundation upon his death, with his family telling the Associated Press that they believed Lorenzen had suffered from CTE as the result of racing accidents during the prime of his career. The Lorenzen announcement came shortly after fellow Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. pledged to do the same after struggling with concussion symptoms late in his career.
"Fred Lorenzen was one of NASCAR's first true superstars. A fan favorite, he helped NASCAR expand from its original roots," NASCAR chairman and CEO Jim France said in a statement. "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 friends and family of Fred Lorenzen."
Lorenzen's passing marks the third loss of a NASCAR Hall of Famer and former Daytona 500 champion in the past 12 months. He is preceded in death by Cale Yarborough and Bobby Allison, who passed away on New Year's Eve 2023 and Nov. 9, 2024 respectively.
