Robert Vance Isaac was an American stock car racing driver.
15 Facts About Bobby Isaac
1.
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Bobby Isaac made his first NASCAR appearance in 1961, and quickly forged a reputation of one of the toughest competitors of the 1960s and 1970s.
3.
Bobby Isaac abruptly retired from full-time top-level competition in 1973 and died of a heart attack during a late model race at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1977.
4.
Bobby Isaac grew up on a farm near Catawba, North Carolina, the second-youngest of nine children.
5.
Bobby Isaac finished school after the sixth grade, which led to the incorrect rumor that he could neither read nor write.
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Bobby Isaac began racing full-time in 1956, but it took him seven years to break into the Grand National division.
7.
Bobby Isaac won 37 races in NASCAR's top series during his career, including 11 in his championship season, and started from the pole position 49 times.
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Bobby Isaac currently holds the NASCAR record for most poles in a single season, with 20 in 1969.
9.
Bobby Isaac dropped out of the 1973 Talladega 500 mid-race in an impulsive decision which surprised his pit crew and the team owner.
10.
Bobby Isaac did not participate in any further 1973 NASCAR Winston Cup races after Talladega, and the presumption by sports commentators in late 1973 was that he was retiring from the sport.
11.
Ultimately, Bobby Isaac did return to NASCAR racing as a driver from 1974 through 1976, on a reduced schedule.
12.
Bobby Isaac was inducted into the National Motorsports Press Association Hall of Fame in 1979, and the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 1996.
13.
On May 20,2015, Bobby Isaac was announced as a member of the 2016 induction class to the NASCAR Hall of Fame.
14.
On Saturday night, August 13,1977, while running fourth, Bobby Isaac pulled out of the Winston 200 late model sportsman race at Hickory Motor Speedway with 40 laps left, and called for a relief driver, collapsing on pit road of heat exhaustion.
15.
Jarrett asserted at that time that the reason Bobby Isaac left the 1973 Talladega 500 was because he "had heard a voice that told him to quit".