Your Year, Your Champion, Our History

[James J.]

Note sure if this should be here or in the Infield.  Kinda applies to both.

The birthday thread got me to thinking, "Who won the championship in the year I was born?"  So, I thought this might be kinda interesting to see. Of course, I guess there's an age limit to participate in this thread.      I also thought it would be interesting to Wikipedia my year of birth for other interesting tid-bits.

So, who was the champion in your year of birth?
Any interesting tid-bits about your year of birth?


I'll start.

1971 = The King, Richard Petty
Petty's Season notes:

• Richard won 21 races this season (46 our of 48 races).
• He had 9 poles and averaged a 3.8 starting position.
• He had 38 top 5s
• He had 41 top 10s
• He led 4,932 laps and had an average finish of 4.2
• His season winning totaled $351,071

Other interesting notes about 1971:

• Average price of gas per gallon:  $0.3577
• Charles Manson and 3 female "family members" are found guilty of the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate and others at her house. They're sentenced to the gas chambers.
• Apollo 14 lands on the Moon.
• The Doors musician Jim Morrison is found dead in his Paris, France apartment.
• Apollo 15 astronauts David Scott and James Irwin become the first to ride in a lunar rover, a day after landing on the Moon.
• The South Tower of the World Trade Center is topped out at 1,362 feet, making it the second tallest building in the world.
• Walt Disney World opens in Florida.
• Led Zeppelin releases their untitled fourth album, sometimes called Led Zeppelin IV or Runes. The album contains such hits as "When the Levee Breaks", "Rock and Roll", and the most requested rock song of all time, "Stairway To Heaven". Led Zeppelin IV will become the fourth best selling album of all time with sales of 22 million copies, and a source of inspiration for generations of rock artists to come.
• In the longest game in NFL history, the Miami Dolphins beat the Kansas City Chiefs

Some famous births in 1971

• Birth: January 17 - Kid Rock, American singer
• Birth: February 17 - Denise Richards, American actress
• Birth: March 11 - Johnny Knoxville, American television personality
• Birth: March 27 - David Coulthard, Scottish race car driver
  
• Birth: March 31 - Ewan McGregor, Scottish actor
• Birth: April 9 - Jacques Villeneuve, race driver, Formula 1 world champion
  
• Birth: April 12 - Shannen Doherty, American actress
• Birth: May 20 - Tony Stewart, American race car driver
  
• Birth: June 16 - Tupac Shakur, American rapper, poet, and actor (d. 1996)
• Birth: July 1 - Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott, American singer
• Birth: July 23 - Alison Krauss, American country singer
• Birth: August 4 - Jeff Gordon, American race car driver
  
• Birth: August 6 - Sunkist, Frontstretch Forum Member, NASCAR fan, and quite sure he could be a wheel man if given a chance at a Cup ride 
  
• Birth: September 18 - Lance Armstrong, American cyclist
  
• Birth: October 20 - Snoop Dogg, American rapper and actor

Some great racers were born in 1971.  Where did my parents go wrong?

[Chris]

Hey this is pretty cool... and I like your format... I'll see if I can copy it.  Also like the additional info.
Maybe that will catch on and others will add it also.  It's all very interesting.

1961 = Ned Jarrett
Jarrett's Season notes:

• Ned Jarrett won 1 races this season (46 our of 52 races).
• He had 5 poles and averaged a 8.1 starting position.
• He had 23 top 5s
• He had 34 top 10s
• He led 606 laps and had an average finish of 706
• His season winning totaled $27,236

1961 saw NASCAR's drivers attempt to form a driver's union to no avail


Other interesting notes about 1961:

• Average price of gas per gallon:  $0.25
• Average price of a loaf of bread:  $0.21
• Average price of a gallon of milk: $1.50
• 1500 U.S.-trained Cuban exiles make an unsuccessful attempt to overthrow Castro in the "Bay of Pigs" invasion
• The Peace Corps is founded.
• Alan Shepard makes the first U.S. manned spaceflight
• East Germany erects the Berlin Wall.
• The U.S. begins buildup in Vietnam.
• Kennedy is inaugurated as the 35th U.S. President.
• The Green Bay Packers win the NFL Championship
• The New York Yankees win the World Series
• AJ Foyt wins his first of four INDY 500's
• The comedy "Car 54: Where are you" debuts on NBC and runs until 9/8/1963 with 60 episodes
• The comedy "Hazel" debuts on NBC and runs until 9/6/1965 with 154 episodes
• The comedy "Dick Van Dyke Show" debuts on CBS and runs until 9/7/1966 with 158 episodes
• The NBC game show "You Bet Your Life" last airs
• West Side Story wins the Oscar for "Best Picture."
• Sophia Loren wins the Oscar for "Best Actress."

Some famous births in 1961

• Birth: January 26 - Wayne Gretzky; Hockey great
• Birth: February 25 - Davey Allison, NASCAR Driver (d 7/13/1993)
• Birth: April 3 - Eddie Murphy, American actor
• Birth: April 8 - Richard Hatch, First winner of "Survivor"
• Birth: May 6 - George Clooney, American actor
• Birth: May 29 - Melissa Etheridge, Musician
• Birth: June 9 - Michael J Fox; American actor
• Birth: July 1 - Princess Diana Spencer; Princess of Wales
• Birth: July 15 - Forrest Whitaker;American actor
• Birth: July 23 - Woody Harrelson, American actor
• Birth: August 4 - Barack Obama, Presidential Candidate
• Birth: August 25 - Billy Ray Cyrus - musician (Dad of Hanna Montana... LOL)
• Birth: September 25 - Heather Locklear
• Birth: October 11 - Steve Young, S.F 49ers Quarterback

[James J.]

Cool Chris!  Thanks for jumping in there with this.  Makes for a little work to put it together, but it's kinda interesting to tie in something NASCAR related to the other world events during that year.  Doing it from your year of birth just makes it a little more personal and fun.

Where did you find the info. on average price of bread and milk?  I was gonna post those in mine, but I got distracted by the Wikipedia stuff and never went back to looking for it.

The birthdays are cool too.  Some interesting births in your year too!  I always found "also happened in 19xx" stuff interesting.

BTW, need to edit your year dates from my 1971 date.

[James J.]

Here's a help sheet if you'd like to duplicate the way Chris and I did it.
Copy the code below, hit reply, paste and fill in the "____" blanks.

Find Your Champion by Year Here:  http://racing-reference.info/wc.htm
Click Your Year and scroll to bottom to see your champion's earnings.
Then click on Your Driver's Name.
Scan accross Your Drivers stats for the year of your birth

Search for your year:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Code:

[size=14pt][b]19___ = Driver Name[/b][/size]
[u][b]Driver Name Season notes:[/b][/u]
[list][*]Richard won ___ races this season
[*]He had ___ poles and averaged a  ___ starting position.
[*]He had ___ top 5s
[*]He had ___ top 10s
[*]He led ___ laps and had an average finish of ___
[*]His season winning totaled $___[/list]


[u][b]Other interesting notes about 19__:[/b][/u]
[list][*]Average price of gas per gallon:  $___
[*]
[*]
[*]
[*]
[*] <--- MAKE MORE OF THESE TO CONTINUE
[/list]

[list][u][b]Some famous births in 19__[/b][/u]
[*]Birth:
[*]Birth:
[*]Birth:
[*]Birth:
[*]Birth:
[*]Birth:  <--- MAKE MORE OF THESE TO CONTINUE

[/list]

[Chris]

yeah... missed that part... forgot to edit on down.
For those that want to do this.. and want to follow the same format... easiest this to do is just do a "quote" of mine or Sunkist and then go back in and type over what is there.
Like SK said... I forgot to change 1971 to 1961 in a couple spots.

As far as where to find stuff...
I googled "interesting facts 1961", also googled "famous births 1961"
I found this link - http://www.348-409.com/1961flash.html it had facts from 1958-1965
Finally I used the infaous spot we all love around here for racer info...  http://racing-reference.info/
it has all the info on my "Champ".  Laps lead, wins, average finish, etc...

Just wanted to thor all that out there so anyone else that wanted to jump in could find the info easier.