Bobby Isaac

1970 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion

Born: August 1, 1932 (d. 1977)
Hometown: Catawba, North Carolina
The File: Bobby won 37 races in a 15-year NASCAR Winston Cup Series career that numbered 308 races. Best known for his achievements during the 1970 season. Driving one of the exotic, high-winged Dodge Daytonas, won 11 races to claim the NASCAR Winston Cup title. Won 50 poles in his career to rank sixth on the all-time list. He also ranks 16th among NASCAR Winston Cup race winners.

At the age of twelve, Bobby Isaac took a break from school to go work in a sawmill. He needed shoes.

"I was from a large family and it was a struggle," Isaac once recalled. "I was on my own and if it was cold in the winter and I didn't have any shoes. We'd go barefoot as long as we could because it made your feet tough."

Tough is what Bobby Isaac was. Tough and fast.

Early in his racing career, his bad temper combined with an aggressive driving style led to more than one off-the-track altercation following a short-track race.

By the time he reached the NASCAR Winston Cup circuit, Isaac had harnessed that temper and turned it into a drive that made him one of the hardest-charging drivers the sport has ever seen.

The name of Bobby Isaac was synonymous with speed. In 1964, during his first regular season on the NASCAR Winston Cup Series, Isaac led every race he entered.

How appropriate that in the late 1960's and early 1970's he would hook up with the futuristic high-winged Dodge Daytonas.

In 1969, Isaac set a single-season NASCAR Winston Cup record by claiming twenty poles. After clinching his only NASCAR Winston Cup title in 1970, he set a record with a lap of 201.104mph in a closed-course test at Talladega.

Although he ranks 16th in NASCAR Winston Cup victories with 37, Isaac ranks seventh with 13,229 laps led and sixth with 50 poles.