Name Bunkie Blackburn Role Race car driver | Died February 28, 2006 | |
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Born April 22, 1936
Fayetteville, North Carolina ( 1936-04-22 ) Awards Inducted in the Pure Darlington Record Club (1964) Best finish 26th - 1962 (Grand National) First race 1960 Southern States Fairgrounds (Charlotte) Last race 1970 Carolina 500 Rockingham | ||
James Ronald "Bunkie" Blackburn (April 22, 1936 – February 28, 2006) was a NASCAR racecar driver.
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Career
Blackburn's father owned and operated the Fayetteville, North Carolina racetrack.
He later competed at historic Nashville Speedway USA against many future legendary drivers.
In 1967 he was part of a three driver crew that set a world speed record of 174 mph in a Smokey Yunkick Z-28 Camaro at the Bonneville Salt Flats in a USAC/FIA event.
NASCAR career
Bunkie won the 1968 Daytona 300 Busch Series (then Late Model) race from the pole.
He had 14-Top 10 and 4-Top 5 finishes in Grand National (now Sprint Cup). He drove Cup racecars from the late 1950s to the early 1970s for Smokey Yunick and Petty Enterprises.
He almost won the 1961 Dixie 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in relief for Junior Johnson. He took Johnson's car to the lead with 5 laps to go after Fireball Roberts ran out of gas. Bunkie also ran out of gas on the final lap to hand the victory to David Pearson.
He retired after a racing injury.