H
HardScrabble
Guest
Perhaps you have heard of Herman Beam. Nicknamed "Turtle".
The Turtle holds the record for the most consecutive races without a DNF. Accomplished by his stated goal of no matter the circumstance, to avoid trouble and stay out of the way. Circling the track at speeds far below those of the other competitors he accomplished exactly that. The number of races is sonmething like 84.
But that record might conceivably be broken.
Herman, The Turtle, holds another quite unique record in NASCAR. One which cannot be broken and which even if it could, will likely never be equaled.
In 1960 during the second of that years qualifying races Herman was black flagged by NASCAR becoming the first driver to ever be black flagged at the Daytona Speedway. That's a record, but the reason for the black flag is truly unequaled. Somehow in the excitement of getting ready to start the race Herman forgot to put on his helmet. He ran 8 laps before the officials detected the missing headgear and flagged him into the pits to correct this small oversight.
The Turtle holds the record for the most consecutive races without a DNF. Accomplished by his stated goal of no matter the circumstance, to avoid trouble and stay out of the way. Circling the track at speeds far below those of the other competitors he accomplished exactly that. The number of races is sonmething like 84.
But that record might conceivably be broken.
Herman, The Turtle, holds another quite unique record in NASCAR. One which cannot be broken and which even if it could, will likely never be equaled.
In 1960 during the second of that years qualifying races Herman was black flagged by NASCAR becoming the first driver to ever be black flagged at the Daytona Speedway. That's a record, but the reason for the black flag is truly unequaled. Somehow in the excitement of getting ready to start the race Herman forgot to put on his helmet. He ran 8 laps before the officials detected the missing headgear and flagged him into the pits to correct this small oversight.
