Johnny Beauchamp was an American NASCAR driver from Harlan, Iowa.
18 Facts About Johnny Beauchamp
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Johnny Beauchamp is best known for finishing second in the 1959 Daytona 500 in a photo finish after being declared the unofficial winner.
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In 1949, Johnny Beauchamp teamed up with mechanic Dale Swanson to earn several wins, racing hotrods in Iowa, Nebraska, and elsewhere.
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Johnny Beauchamp raced unmodified old model stock cars at the Playland Park track in Council Bluffs, Iowa, finishing second in season points behind Tiny Lund.
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In 1951, Johnny Beauchamp won five straight features at the Playland track and was season champion.
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Johnny Beauchamp began occasionally racing late models in 1953, and, midway through the 1955 season, Beauchamp began racing in the International Motor Contest Association.
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In 1956, driving a Dale Swanson-owned Chevrolet, Johnny Beauchamp won an unprecedented 38 IMCA races, while Chevrolets won approximately five races in the NASCAR racing association.
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Johnny Beauchamp repeated as IMCA champion in 1957, winning the award for top stock car driver of the season.
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Johnny Beauchamp finished second in the beach race, and was the only car on the same lap as the winner Cotton Owens.
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Johnny Beauchamp found himself leading the race when Fireball Roberts went out on lap 43.
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Johnny Beauchamp eventually crossed the finish line at about the same time as Petty.
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Johnny Beauchamp was declared the unofficial winner of the race, so he drove the Roy Burdick-owned car to victory lane.
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Johnny Beauchamp competed in seven events that season; recording his first NASCAR victory at Atlanta's Lakewood Speedway where he lapped the entire field.
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Petty, as Johnny Beauchamp and Burdick learned, had somewhat of a pattern of winning races when drivers and officials believed he was a lap behind: Concord 1958, Daytona 1959, Atlanta 1959, and Weaverville, 1960.
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Burdick and Johnny Beauchamp believed NASCAR had a lap counting problem, and part of the problem was that NASCAR had the drivers' wives counting the laps.
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Johnny Beauchamp won his second and final NASCAR race that year in a 400-mile event at Nashville Speedway USA.
17.
Petty and Johnny Beauchamp's cars sailed out of turn four and landed outside of the racetrack.
18.
In 1966, Johnny Beauchamp was the track champion in Peoria, Illinois.