Joe Weatherly

Joe Weatherly won back-to-back Cup Series championships in 1962 and 1963, but to remember him only for those titles would be to miss the larger-than-life personality that made him one of the most colorful characters in NASCAR's early decades. The Norfolk, Virginia native was a former motorcycle racing champion who brought the same fearlessness to stock cars, competing with a joy and an irreverence that made him a fan favorite wherever he raced. Weatherly won nine races during his 1962 championship season and three in 1963, demonstrating the consistency and adaptability required to win titles in an era of wildly varied track conditions and equipment. His close friendship with Curtis Turner produced some of the sport's most legendary off-track stories, tales of two men who lived and raced with equal abandon. His death at Riverside International Raceway in January 1964, at age 41, devastated the racing community and, along with the subsequent loss of Fireball Roberts, forced NASCAR to confront the safety standards that would begin transforming the sport. Inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame in 2015, Joe Weatherly's consecutive championships and vibrant personality ensure his place among the most memorable figures of NASCAR's formative years -- a champion who raced hard, lived fully, and left the world far too soon.

Written by Richard R. Glover, NASCAR Reference