John Ditz is a former

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

car owner whose career spanned from

1954 Events January * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown–IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head ...

1955 Events January * January 3 – José Ramón Guizado becomes president of Panama. * January 17 – , the first nuclear-powered submarine, puts to sea for the first time, from Groton, Connecticut. * January 18– 20 – Battle of Yijian ...

Career

He employed

Arden Mounts Enoch Arden Mounts (July 9, 1917 – March 4, 2003) was an American NASCAR Grand National Series driver from Gilbert, Mingo County, West Virginia. His primary vehicle was the #18 self-owned Pontiac machine; although he would occasionally drive a ...

Dick Rathmann James Merwin "Dick" Rathmann (January 6, 1926February 1, 2000) was an American racing driver. Rathmann and his younger brother swapped names while teenagers. He was an 18-year-old going by the name of Jim Rathmann, when his brother wanted to st ...

, and Donald Thomas for his 52-race career as a NASCAR owner. Ditz's drivers earned two NASCAR victories in addition to 30 finishes in the "top five" and 35 finishes in the "top ten." These drivers also earned seven

pole position In a motorsports race, the pole position is usually the best and "statistically the most advantageous" starting position on the track. The pole position is usually earned by the driver with the best qualifying times in the trials before the ra ...

s and lead 850 laps out of 7321. Ditz's drivers started in sixth place on average and finished in 10th place on average; for a grand total of raced. This owner competed in 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. ...

; with one of the highest paying prize purses prior to the

1959 Daytona 500 The 1959 First 500 Mile NASCAR International Sweepstakes at Daytona (now known as the 1959 Inaugural Daytona 500) was the second race of the 1959 NASCAR Grand National Series season. It was held on February 22, 1959, in front of 41,921 spectator ...

. One of Ditz's wins came at the 1954 Wilkes County 160; with Dick Rathmann behind the wheel. His total career earnings totaled $18,255 ($ when adjusted for inflation).

References

NASCAR team owners Living people Year of birth missing (living people) {{NASCAR-bio-stub