Emanuel Zervakis (January 23, 1930 – June 25, 2003) was a

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 ...

driver and team owner. He won two NASCAR Grand National Series races in his career, both in 1961 (

Greenville 200 Greenville-Pickens Speedway is a race track located in Easley, South Carolina, just west of Greenville, South Carolina. The track hosted weekly NASCAR sanctioned races. Several NASCAR touring series have raced at the track in prior years, includi ...

and Yankee 500). He later went on to own a part-time Cup team and a successful Busch Series team, receiving five Busch wins as an owner, four with

Butch Lindley Butch Lindley (March 25, 1948 – June 6, 1990) was a Short track racer. He was the champion of the NASCAR Sportsman Division in 1977 and 1978. Early life and start of career Clyde Lindley Jr., nicknamed Butch, was born in Greenville, South Car ...

and one with Ricky Rudd.

Career

Driver

He started in 83 NASCAR Cup races between 1956 and 1963 and finished in the top ten in points twice. He started his first race at Daytona Beach in 1956, finishing last in a field of 76 cars. He did not score a single top ten finish until 1960, but after that, he was in the top ten more than he was out. Zervakis was disqualified for his fuel tank being too large after winning at Wilson Speedway in 1960. He was the last winning driver to be disqualified from a race for 62 years. In 1961, he finished third in the point standings, only behind Ned Jarrett and Rex White. He ran his last race in 1963. He also made 6 starts in the now-defunct Convertible Series.

Owner

Zervakis was also a team owner. He might be remembered most for fielding a car for

Dale Jarrett Dale Arnold Jarrett (born November 26, 1956) is a former American race car driver and current commentator for NBC. He is best known for winning the Daytona 500 three times (in 1993, 1996, and 2000) and winning the NASCAR Winston Cup Series champi ...

's first Winston Cup race. his Cup team competed in 39 events total, with a best finish was a second-place finish by

at Martinsville. He also had five wins in the Nationwide series, including Ricky Rudd's only Busch/Nationwide win in his first start, and four wins by Butch Lindley in 1982, where he finished ninth in points despite running a partial schedule.

Racing career results

NASCAR Grand National Series

NASCAR Convertible Series

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zervakis, Emanuel NASCAR drivers NASCAR team owners 1930 births 2003 deaths Racing drivers from Virginia