Enoch Arden Mounts (July 9, 1917 – March 4, 2003) was an American

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. The privately owned company was founded by Bill France Sr. in 1948, and h ...

Grand National Series The name NASCAR Grand National Series refers to former names of the following NASCAR series: *National-level stock car series: **NASCAR Cup Series (known as NASCAR Grand National Series between 1950 to 1970, then the NASCAR Winston Cup Grand Nation ...

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Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

Mingo County, West Virginia Mingo County is a county in the U.S. state of West Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,568. Its county seat and largest city is Williamson. Created in 1895, Mingo is West Virginia's newest county, named for the historic Iro ...

. His primary vehicle was the #18 self-owned

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machine; although he would occasionally drive a Hudson vehicle on the race track.

Career

He raced in the NASCAR Grand National Series from 1953 to

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J.D. McDuffie John Delphus McDuffie Jr. (December 5, 1938 – August 11, 1991) was an American racing driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1963 to 1991, collecting 106 top-10 finishes during his career, despite never finishing on the lead ...

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Joe Nemechek Joseph Frank Nemechek III (born September 26, 1963) is an American professional stock car racing driver who last competed part-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 24 Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Nemechek has made the second ...

, Mounts was an "independent" race car driver who would never receive manufacturer's support or the support of blockbuster sponsors. Arden would earn six finishes in the top ten from the 37 races that he would compete in NASCAR. The 1954 Grand National season would see Mounts record his best championship finish at 21st place in the standings. During his career, Mounts would earn $2,505 in race winnings ($ when adjusted for inflation) and race 4489 laps - the equivalent of . Only the 1953 and 1956 NASCAR Cup Series seasons would see him finish better than he started in the races. Mounts would end up losing nearly one position on average from start to finish during his entire career. His appearance at the

1955 Southern 500 The 1955 Southern 500, the sixth running of the event, was a NASCAR Grand National Series event. The event was held on September 5, 1955, at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, South Carolina. This race spanned 500 miles on a paved oval track ...

, where he would crash into Don Duckworth's stalled vehicle, would be captured on highlight films for generations. While Bill Champion managed to avoid Duckworth by swerving past the vehicle rapidly, Arden Mounts managed to see the stalled vehicle too late and crashed into him in a very hard manner. The proper usage of seat belts on the stock car automobiles would save the lives of both Mounts and Duckworth. The types of racing tracks that best favored Arden was the dirt tracks where he finished an average of 18th place; intermediate tracks were very much a disadvantage to Mounts, where a finish of 42nd place was the career average for him.

Death

Mounts would die while being a patient at St. Mary's Hospital, a medical center in Huntington,

West Virginia West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States.The Census Bureau and the Association of American Geographers classify West Virginia as part of the Southern United States while the ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mounts, Arden 1917 births 2003 deaths NASCAR drivers People from Gilbert, West Virginia Racing drivers from West Virginia