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Recently our very talented John Rizzo came up with a list of five great NASCAR nicknames. Here is that short that he posted with the five best nicknames in NASCAR history.
However, there are plenty more than just these five nicknames in NASCAR history. What are five more of the greatest NASCAR nicknames in the history of the sport?
Terry “Iceman” Labonte earned his nickname thanks to his calm, all-business demeanor on the race track. Labonte was not a guy who was overly flashy, but he always found a way to get the job done on the race track without ruffling too many feathers. He also was incredibly cool under pressure
No better example of this came than at the 1995 Goody’s 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. After “The Intimidator”, Dale Earnhardt bumped Labonte off of the final turn for the win, Labonte played it cool and spun across the line for the win. Cool and confident, Labonte casually pulled his mangled car into victory lane.
During the 1976 Daytona 500, commentator Bill Flemming said Buddy Baker, “Looked like he should be a defensive tackle on a football team”, but, Buddy Baker was a race car driver. Baker was also one of the nicest guys in the sport at the time, which gave him the nickname “Gentle Giant”. Some say that “Nice guys finish last”, but Baker begged to differ.
Baker was the first driver in history to exceed 200 miles per hour on a closed course in 1970. He won 19 races in his NASCAR career, including the 1980 Daytona 500. Appropriately, this was the fastest Daytona 500 in NASCAR history.
No modern NASCAR driver makes a big of a brand out of his nickname as Kyle “Rowdy” Busch. Nicknamed after the Days of Thunder character, Rowdy Burns, Busch earned the nickname thanks to his aggressive driving style. No one drives quite as aggressively, with no quarter given and no quarter taken, as Kyle Busch.
While Rowdy has had a negative connotation to it at times, but Busch has elected to embrace it. He created an energy drink called “Rowdy”, and he now puts “Rowdy” on the top of his doorpost. He even drives the 51 in the Truck Series, the same as Rowdy Burns in Days of Thunder.
David Pearson raced throughout his entire career with incredible cunning. As time went on and his hair grayed, his nickname changed to the “Silver Fox” from his original nickname “Fox”. The more silver he got, the better he seemingly got.
The perfect “Silver Fox” moment came in the 1974 Firecracker 400. David Pearson led Richard Petty in the closing laps, but Pearson seemed to be a sitting duck as Petty waited to make his move. Pearson circumvented this by letting Petty by, and Pearson passed Petty back off of turn four for the win. One of the sneakiest wins in NASCAR history.
When you win 200 races and seven Championships, there truly is no other nickname appropriate than, “The King”. To this day, Richard Petty remains stock car racing royalty, even though he does not race anymore. Despite being “The King”, Petty is by no means arrogant or snooty, but he is incredibly humble and welcoming to any fan wanting an autograph.
On the race track, no one could get upset with how Petty raced. He was simply faster than the rest of the field most of the time. His most incredible performance came in 1967 where he won 27 of 49 races, and he had an absurd average finish of 5.0.
Nicknames truly become a huge part of certain drivers’ brands. As time goes on, more NASCAR drivers will garner more nicknames. Will they be able to top any of these?
