Possum Jones (January 16, 1934 – December 27, 1997) was a

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driver.

Career

From

1952 Events January–February * January 26 – Cairo Fire, Black Saturday in Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt: Rioters burn Cairo's central business district, targeting British and upper-class Egyptian businesses. * February 6 ** Princess Elizabeth, ...

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The First Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is Second inauguration of Lynd ...

, Jones managed to lead 28 out of the 8234 laps that he committed in his career.Racing Reference - Driver Information
/ref> The 29th lap of the 1957 Rebel 300 would become infamous for the nine-car wreck that become a harbinger of doom in the days prior to the "modern" NASCAR Cup Series. Jones would be involved in this wreck; sharing a photo opportunity with Art Binkey and

Dick Beaty Dick, Dicks, or Dick's may refer to: Media * ''Dicks'' (album), a 2004 album by Fila Brazillia * Dicks (band), a musical group * ''Dick'' (film), a 1999 American comedy film * "Dick" (song), a 2019 song by Starboi3 featuring Doja Cat * '' D ...

in their wrecked vehicles.Pit 3 - Pre-Cup Days: 1957 Rebel 300
at Race Place Jones practically cut his professional racing career "teeth" on racing convertibles in NASCAR. He was one of the original drivers who partook in the 1956 Convertible season. In 1957, Jones won two convertible races, at

Syracuse Syracuse most commonly refers to: * Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse * Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area Syracuse may also refer to: Places * Syracuse railway station (disambiguation) Italy * Provi ...

and Fayetteville. This experiment in "stock car racing" would last throughout the rest of the 1950s and into the year

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

before the regular stock cars became more cost efficient. It became too expensive to cut the tops off the vehicles; causing the demise of the NASCAR Convertible Division. This would add up to raced in total. Total earnings for Possum Jones was $13,680 ($ when adjusted for inflation). On average, Jones started in 21st place and finished in 20th place. Possum Jones was also a NASCAR owner during the 1963 and 1964 seasons. He managed to arrange rides for himself in addition to Jim McGuirk,

Joe Weatherly Joseph Herbert Weatherly (May 29, 1922 – January 19, 1964) was an American stock car racing driver. Weatherly was inducted into the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America in 2009 after winning NASCAR's Grand National Series championships i ...

, and Joe Penland.Racing Reference - Owner Information
/ref>

References

External links

* 1934 births 1997 deaths NASCAR drivers NASCAR team owners Sportspeople from Hillsborough County, Florida Racing drivers from Tampa, Florida {{NASCAR-stub