Marvin Panch, American racing driver, Died at 89

Marvin Panch was born on May 28, 1926, in Menomonie, Wisconsin, and died on December 31, 2015.

He was an American racing driver.

He was the winner of 1961 Daytona 500.

Panch has won seventeen NASCAR Grand National, now called the Sprint Cup Series.

He had a successful 17-year career.

Marvin began his racing career as a car owner in Oakland, California.

About a week later, his driver didn’t show, so he decided to race the car to a third-place finish.

He won a championship and several races in six years, including five NASCAR races on the West Coast of the United States.

Marvin Panch won the two races in 1957 for DePaolo.

Panch added another victory in April before Ford ended its factory support in the middle of the season.

Panch joined the legendary Holman-Moody team for the rest of the season.

Marvin has won three more events in the season and finished second in the final points standings.

At the end of the Ford factory sponsorship, that hurt his career and over the next three seasons he was only able to race in 24 races.

Marvin Panch was named one of NASCAR’s 50 Greatest Drivers in 1998.

In 1987, Marvin was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame, and the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in its first class in 2002.

He was married to Bettie Gong the founder of the Women’s Auxiliary of Motorsports.

He had four children.

Marvin Panch passed away at 89 yrs old.