Name Dick Passwater Role Racing driver | First race Detroit | |
 | ||
Best finish 25th - 1953 (Grand National) Last race 1953 Southern 500 (Darlington) First win 1953 Race #5 (Charlotte Speedway) Last win 1953 Race #5 (Charlotte Speedway) | ||
Richard "Dick" Passwater (born July 25, 1925) is a retired American racecar driver who raced in NASCAR and USAC.
Born in Indianapolis, Passwater started racing after World War II, and was active in the 1950s and 1960s. He won the fifth race of the 1953 NASCAR Grand National (now Sprint Cup) season at Charlotte Speedway in his 1953 Oldsmobile. He won the race after most of the top contenders either fell out of the race or had to make a late pit stop at the 3/4 mile long dirt track. The race saw a then-record six drivers take the lead with 18 lead changes. One of Passwater's Oldsmobiles is in a museum in Lansing, Michigan. He retired because car owner Frank Arford had died in a crash in Langhorne, PA while attempting to qualify for the race. Passwater's generosity of letting the owner race backfired, and he returned to Indianapolis. He campaigned a self-owned Olds for his last race in the '53 Southern 500, finishing ninth.