Yahoo Autos These Are NASCAR's Foreign-Born Race Winners
To many people, NASCAR is as American as apple pie and baseball. The stock car racing body has attracted competitors from all walks of life and nearly every corner of the globe. While the number of international drivers who have raced in NASCAR’s three national divisions has been few, there has been at least one foreign-born race winner every decade since the 1960s.
New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen, three-time Australian Supercars Champion, became the new member of this exclusive club with his race win on debut last weekend on the streets of Chicago. These winners have been journeymen drivers who spent their entire careers trying to make a living in stock car racing, international stars looking for a new challenge, and road course ringers looking to capitalize on their ability to turn left and right.
Mario Andretti: 1967
Mario Andretti wins 1967 Daytona 500 | NASCAR 75th Anniversary Moments | Motorsports on NBC
NASCAR’s first foreign-born winner is likely the most famous, Mario Andretti. The racing legend occasionally raced in NASCAR’s top division and won the 1967 Daytona 500 in a Hulman-Moody Ford, two years before his Indianapolis 500 victory. The Italian-born driver became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1964 but had to claim that he was born in his adopted hometown of Nazareth, Pennsylvania to avoid the xenophobic ire of race officials.
Read more
Earl Ross: 1974
Earl Ross
It would take seven years before NASCAR would have its next foreign-born race winner. Canadian driver Earl Ross won the 1974 Old Dominion 500 at Martinsville Speedway with Junior Johnson en route to becoming that season’s Winston Cup Rookie of the Year. It would be easier to assume that this would be the start of a fruitful career in NASCAR, but Ross left a few years later and spent the rest of his career in the regional short-track scene. Ross remains the only Canadian to win in the NASCAR Cup Series.
Larry Pollard: 1987
The Scene Vault Podcast — Larry Pollard Leaves Richard Petty and Phil Parsons, Restarts Driving
Canadian Larry Pollard spent the early part of his NASCAR career as a crew chief before deciding to return to the driver’s seat in 1985. Pollard became the first foreign-born winner in the NASCAR Busch Series with a victory in the 1987 Busch 200 at Langley Speedway. He would suffer and survive a basilar skull fracture in a crash the next year. Pollack miraculously returned to the Busch Series in 1990.
Ron Fellows: 1997
2008 NAPA Auto Parts 200 - Chaos and Early Finish
Ron Fellows is much better known for his time as a driver with Corvette Racing. In a Chevrolet Corvette C5-R, the Canadian driver won the 2001 and 2002 24 Hours of Le Mans in class. Fellows split his time in sports car racing with NASCAR appearance as a road course ringer. His first Truck Series win was the 1997 Parts America 150 at Watkins Glen, but his final win was the most memorable. Fellows won a wet-weather Nationwide Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal in 2008, a home victory at the track named after the childhood hero he watched race there.
Juan Pablo Montoya: 2007
Friday Flashback: 2007 Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Infineon
Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya spent two seasons in the United States competing in CART before heading to Formula 1. When his time was up in F1, he didn’t return to IndyCar but moved to NASCAR with Chip Ganassi Racing. Montoya won in both the Cup Series and the Busch Series during his first full stock car racing season in 2007.
