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American racing driver
NASCAR driver
Billy Drew Wade
(February 28, 1930 – January 5, 1965) was an American
stock car racing
driver.
Career
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Billy was the 1963
NASCAR Rookie of the Year
for car owner
Cotton Owens
. He finished the season with 14 Top 10 finishes in 31 races. He won four consecutive races the following year for
Bud Moore Engineering
between July 10 and July 19, 1964. The four wins give Wade the sole distinction of being the only driver to accomplish this feat with victories at Old Bridge Stadium on July 10, the road course at Bridgehampton, N.Y on the 12th, a July 15 win at Islip Speedway in New York, and his fourth (and final) win at Watkins Glen. Dick Linder also followed his first victory at Dayton with a win at Hamburg; but Wade is the only driver to string four victories in a row once he got his first.
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He also accumulated five poles and 25 Top 10 finishes in his 35 starts. As of 2017, he is the most recent driver in NASCAR to get his first pole and win in the same weekend.
On January 5, 1965, Wade was performing a tire test at
Daytona International Speedway
, when a tire blowout caused his car to crash
in the west turn, killing the 34-year-old Texan.
[2]
Racing career results
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NASCAR Grand National Series
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References
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External links
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