Several drivers among the latest class of nominees for the NASCAR Hall of Fame were around during the early days of the sport. Nominee Red Byron was around from the very beginning. As a matter of fact he won NASCAR's first race in 1948 on the beach course at Daytona. He also won NASCAR's first championship, being awarded NASCAR Modified Division champion later that same year. Byron also became NASCAR's first Cup-level champion a year later when he won NASCAR's Strictly Stock (the precursor of the Sprint Cup Series) title in 1949.
Byron's racing career actually came to be before NASCAR was even formed. He began racing in the 1930s and was a successful racer in Alabama in the 1940s before his service in the Army during World War II.
To read more of this bio, visit Cup Series News and Notes.
Photo of Red Byron courtesy of ISC Archives/Getty Images.
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