Danny Letner
| Danny Letner | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | January 3, 1928 Downey, California | ||||||
| Died | March 30, 2018 (aged 90) Orange, California | ||||||
| Awards | West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame (2002 - Inaugural Class) | ||||||
| NASCAR Cup Series career | |||||||
| 27 races run over 8 years | |||||||
| Best finish | 33rd (1954 NASCAR Grand National Series) | ||||||
| First race | 1951 Race 4 (Carrell Speedway) | ||||||
| Last race | 1963 Riverside 500 (Riverside International Raceway) | ||||||
| First win | 1954 Race 27 (Oakland Stadium) | ||||||
| Last win | 1955 Race 14 (Tucson Rodeo Grounds) | ||||||
| |||||||
Danny Lewis Letner[1] (January 3, 1928 – March 30, 2018) was an American racecar driver who won two races in what is now the NASCAR Cup Series.[2]
Career
[edit]In 1951, Letner ran five NASCAR Grand National Division races in cars owned by his father, Bert. He earned two top-fives that year with a best finish of eighth. Letner then competed in a handful of races each year from 1954 to 1957, adding seven more top tens, including wins at Oakland and Tucson.[3][2]
In 1954, Letner won two races and finished in second place in the NASCAR Pacific Coast Late Model standings. The next year, he won three races en route to a championship in his only full-time season. He won three of the twelve races he entered in 1957, his final season in the series.[2]
In 1956, Letner ran 23 races in the inaugural season of the short-lived NASCAR Convertible Division, winning at Langhorne Speedway.[4]
Letner retired from stock car racing in the early 1960s, but later took up off-road racing. He won the SCORE Parker 400 in 1989 at the age of 61,[5] and would go on to finish tied for second in the championship standings that year.[6]
In 2002, he was inducted into the first class of the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame.
Personal life
[edit]Letner was born in Downey, California. His son Marty and grandsons Kory and Harley have also competed in off-road racing.[7][8]
References
[edit]- ^ "Danny L Letner from Orange, CA". Radaris.com. Retrieved 10 June 2024.
- ^ a b c "Driver Danny Letner Career Statistics". racing-reference.info. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ "O'Connor Wins Big Car Race; Letner Nabs Stock Car Victory". San Bernardino Sun. No. 2 August 1954. 2 August 1954. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "Letner Takes Auto Title Race". The New York Times. No. May 21, 1956. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ "Letner first finisher in Parker 400 race". San Bernardino Sun. No. 29 January 1989. 29 January 1989. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "Letner racing crowned unlimited class one champions". kingshocks.com. Retrieved 22 December 2019.
- ^ "NASCAR West champion Danny Letner passes". nascar.com. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
- ^ "Harley Letner carries on a family tradition at Laughlin that stretches back to the 1940s". snoreracing.net. Archived from the original on 21 December 2019. Retrieved 21 December 2019.
External links
[edit]- Danny Letner driver statistics at Racing-Reference