| Robert Isaac | |||||||
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| Born | August 1, 1932 Catawba, North Carolina |
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| Died | August 14, 1977 (aged 45) | ||||||
| Cause of death | Heart attack | ||||||
| Awards |
1979 - Inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame 1996- Inducted in the International Motorsports Hall of Fame 1998 - Named one of NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers |
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| NASCAR Sprint Cup Series career | |||||||
| 308 races run over 14 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 1st - 1970 Grand National Series season | ||||||
| First race | 1963 untitled race (Piedmont Interstate Fairgrounds) | ||||||
| Last race | 1976 World 600 (Charlotte) | ||||||
| First win | 1968 Columbia 200 (Columbia Speedway, SC) | ||||||
| Last win | 1972 Carolina 500 (Rockingham) | ||||||
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Bobby Isaac (August 1, 1932 – August 14, 1977) is a former NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup Series) champion.
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Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second youngest of nine children. He finished school after the sixth grade, which led to the incorrect rumor that he could neither read nor write.[2]
He began racing full-time in 1956, but it took him seven years to break into the Grand National division. Isaac won the championship in 1970 driving the #71 Dodge Charger Daytona sponsored by K&K Insurance. His crew chief was legendary Harry Hyde. Isaac & Hyde took the car to Talladega in November and set a closed-course speed record.
Isaac won 37 races in NASCAR's top series during his career, including 11 in his championship season, and started from the pole position 50 times. He took 20 poles in a single season in 1969. This NASCAR record will be hard to beat since there are currently 36 races on the schedule. According to Isaac a strange "voice" in the car told him to retire from the Talladega race in 1973 because it threatened he would be killed. (Earlier in the race, another driver named Larry Smith died in an accident.)
Isaac also made his mark outside of NASCAR.[3][4] In September 1971, he went to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah and set 28 world speed records, some of which still stand to this day.[3][4]
Bobby Isaac was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1979, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996. In 1998 NASCAR honored Isaac as one of its NASCAR's 50 Greatest Drivers of all time.
Unfortunately, Bobby did not live to enjoy any of the accolades. He pulled out of a 1977 Late Model Sportsman race at Hickory Motor Speedway with 25 laps left, and called for a relief driver, collapsing on pit road. Though he was revived briefly at the hospital, a heart attack in the early morning hours proved fatal to the 45-year-old.
| Preceded by David Pearson |
NASCAR Grand National Champion 1970 |
Succeeded by Richard Petty |
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