DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. - On Tuesday night, February 17, one of the top drivers to ever strap himself into a race car will be honored along with five others at the 10th annual Victory Lane Racing Association Awards Banquet scheduled to be held at the Pelican Bay Country Club. Sam Ard will be honored with the Fireball Roberts Award. Others being honored for their accomplishments in auto racing are Curtis Turner, Mike Duvall, Dick Hutcherson, Gene Stokes and Steve Waid. Ard, a native of Scranton, South Carolina, set many records after joining the Busch Grand National Series of NASCAR in 1982 at the age of 43. After a storied career running mainly short tracks across the country, the sanctioning body saw fit to cater more to the factory-backed teams and most of the cars back then and even more today, are driven by Cup regulars and the independently financed teams have to take whats left, but not Ard. He finished his first year in the BGN division in second place to Hall of Fame driver Jack Ingram. He competed in 29 events and was in the top 5 at the finish 20 times and finished in the top ten 23 times with four wins to his credit. He also ran the Late Model Sportsman circuit and in 1982, Ard competed in 52 events, winning 16 times and finishing in the top five 41 times. He won the Mid-Atlantic Regional title as well. The following year, Ard was in the top ten 30 times in 35 races, with 23 top five finishes and ten victories. At the end of the season, he was the points champion. He repeated as the points champion in 1984, winning eight times and finishing in the top five 24 times in 28 races. His driving career ended on October 20, 1984 at North Carolina Motor Speedway near Rockingham when he was involved in a terrible crash. Ard suffered a head injury which led to other complications and eventually brought on the dreaded Alzheimers disease. He is now confined to a bed and requires supervised care 24 hours a day. The future Hall of Fame driver competed in 92 BGA events, winning 22 times, started from the pole position 24 times and had an average finish of 5.5. He led more than 25 per cent of the laps run. Overall, Ard competed for 28 years and even though there is nothing showing the official number of wins, it has to total in the hundreds. As is the case with so many successful drivers, Ard took his bumps and bruises when he began his career at the Black River Speedway near Hemingway, S. C. in 1956 while driving a 36 Chevy in the jalopy division. He competed in a cow pasture track near Sumter owned by Gene Stokes and was a competitor at nearby Hemingway Speedway as well. He batted zero in the win column that year, but he was the winner of his first race the following year at Hemingway. He pocketed $25 in $1 bills and change, making him a real pro. The 58 and 59 seasons were disasters and he was a part-time driver from 60 thru 62 while in the military, Near the end of 1962, John Altman of Florence, S. C. put the tall, slender driver behind the wheel of his 54 Chevy hobby car. He won races all over eastern South and North Carolina for two years and then he graduated to the late model class in 1964. Things started great as Ard drove his 55 Ford to victory his first time out, but that was it for the season. He tried it on his own in 1965, driving a 56 Ford Fairlane, winning more than a dozen races. The following year, he bought a Chevelle from Junior Johnson and the car coughed its engine in the first race, but he won nine races at Sumter, Hartsville, Little River and Dillon, plus he only lost five races at Leland over a two-year period. He sold out at the end of 1968, but started up again in 1969 with another Chevelle, but was limited on funds. After winning a few races that year, Ard sold out for the third time and started looking for a backer, which he found in Wilmington, N. C. The team won several races in the 1970, but at the end of the season, Guess what? He sold out for the fourth time. His career changed in 1971 when he became employed by the Thomas Brothers Country Ham as a mechanic for 20 delivery trucks and driver-mechanic for two late model sportsman race cars. The new team took a Chevelle to Columbia Speedway in April and brought back a piece of mangled junk after Ard flattened it like a sardine can that Thursday night. Ard and the Thomas Brothers Ham Co. began building a name for themselves as the season grew older and the team ended the season with eight wins. In 1972, Ard and the Thomas Brothers were household names for every racing fan as they chalked up 35 wins in three states More and more track promoters were starting to realize that Ard and his team brought fans to the track and were making deals to get the white 00 to their tracks. Their policy was to run every race possible, and especially the ones that paid the most money and awarded the most points. For Ard, it was a far cry from what he went through on his own, when he would sort through a dozen or so used tires in order to find a set that would last through a feature event, or if he blew an engine, where would the money come from so he could repair it. Sadly, now, after using every cent he has to pay medical bills and other expenses, its what will we use to pay the power bill? Another question....Why is he not in the NASCAR Hall of Fame?
Posted on: Sat, 10 Jan 2015 19:12:48 +0000
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