Bill Rexford

1950 NASCAR Winston Cup Series Champion

Born: March 14, 1927
Hometown: Conowango Valley, NY
The File: Bill Rexford, in 1950, won the second of what would eventually become the NASCAR Winston Cup championship. Rexford won one race during the 1950 season, which was his only career victory. Made 36 starts, 17 coming in 1950, won one pole, registered nine top 10's and earned $7,535 during his career. Rexford stopped racing in NASCAR in 1953 at the age of 26. NASCAR Winston Cup Series' youngest champion.

When NASCAR fans think of young champions, three-time champion Jeff Gordon usually comes to mind. In 1995, the Wonder Boy won his first NASCAR Winston Cup Series championship at the tender age of 24. But contrary to popular belief, Gordon was not the youngest driver to win the NASCAR Winston Cup championship - Bill Rexford is.

Rexford was a NASCAR pioneer, making three starts in the Strictly Stock series (which would become NASCAR Winston Cup) in its inaugural season, 1949. The following season saw NASCAR award its premier championship to the youngster from New York. At the age of 23, Rexford became not only the youngest champion in NASCAR Winston Cup history, but perhaps the most controversial as well.

In seeing NASCAR through its infancy, NASCAR president Bill France Sr. was adamant about strictly enforcing NASCAR's rules in order to grow the sport properly. During lulls in NASCAR's second season, some drivers chose to drive in non-NASCAR sanctioned events, which at the time was strictly frowned upon. Defending champion Red Byron and the talented Lee Petty were two of those drivers that entered these "outlaw" events and were later punished by France, who took away all of their acquired championship points halfway through the 1950 season. Had Petty kept all of his championship points, he would have won the championship over Rexford by a staggering margin of 440 points.

Rexford entered 17 of the 19 races run in 1950 and steered clear of any point deductions to win the championship at the last race of the season in one of the most exciting points battles in NASCAR history.

Another interesting distinction in Rexford's career is the fact that he owns as many championships as he does race wins - one.