Jim Reed (February 21, 1926 – June 29, 2019) 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. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

driver.Jim Reed racing information
at Racing Reference

Career

Reed has raced 16,335 laps (and successfully led 1,472 of them) – the equivalent of from his beginnings

1951 Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the Uni ...

to his final NASCAR season as a driver in

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Cove ...

. His total career earnings are $16,299 ($ when adjusted for inflation). Reed's biggest win came in the 1959 Southern 500 driving a 1957

Chevrolet Bel Air The Chevrolet Bel Air is a full-size car produced by Chevrolet for the 1950–1981 model years. Initially, only the two-door hardtops in the Chevrolet model range were designated with the Bel Air name from 1950 to 1952. With the 1953 model year, ...

. Reed finished the highest in championship standings in

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

(9th place overall) and the lowest in 1963 being 139th place overall for the year. His average career start was 12th and his average career finish was 16th. A wreck while driving a Ford late in the 1963 Grand National season caused a broken

vertebra Each vertebra (: vertebrae) is an irregular bone with a complex structure composed of bone and some hyaline cartilage, that make up the vertebral column or spine, of vertebrates. The proportions of the vertebrae differ according to their spina ...

; Reed eventually retired from NASCAR. At Heidelberg Raceway, Reed won a race that took place on July 21, 1959, on a ¼-mile dirt track. Reed performed the best at short tracks and restrictor plate tracks; finishing 11th on average while finishing in 34th on average while driving on tri-oval intermediate tracks.NASCAR Statistics for ''Jim Reed''
at Driver Averages

Later life and death

In 1965, Reed left the motorsports scene to start a

truck A truck or lorry is a motor vehicle designed to transport freight, carry specialized payloads, or perform other utilitarian work. Trucks vary greatly in size, power, and configuration, but the vast majority feature body-on-frame construct ...

dealership. While it started out as a GMC dealership, the business eventually moved on to selling

Mitsubishi The is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Yatarō Iwasaki in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group traces its origins to the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company that existed from 1870 to 194 ...

and UD trucks. Sales have mostly been either the first or second best in the Peekskill, New York region. Reed died in his sleep on June 29, 2019, succumbing to a

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reed, Jim 1926 births 2019 deaths NASCAR drivers People from Marion, Illinois Racing drivers from Illinois