Norman Huber "Norm" Nelson was an American racing driver.
31 Facts About Norm Nelson
1.
2.
Norm Nelson won the season championship in 1960,1965, and 1966 as a driver.
3.
Norm Nelson competed in five NASCAR Grand National Series events and won one.
4.
Norm Nelson had 35 USAC victories including 11 at the Milwaukee Mile near his hometown Racine, Wisconsin.
5.
Norm Nelson prepared for racing when, as a 14-year-old, he borrowed his sister's 1934 Chevrolet and he raced it on the back streets of Racine.
6.
Norm Nelson competed for the first time on a rainy 1939 afternoon race in a swampy field near Pleasant Prairie.
7.
Norm Nelson ended up driving the midget into the wall in the first corner.
8.
Norm Nelson stopped racing midgets in favor of late model stock cars so he could race more frequently.
9.
In 1950, Norm Nelson was racing the American Automobile Association Stock Car division in its first season and was leading the national points going into the final race at the Springfield Mile.
10.
Second-place driver Jay Frank was the only driver who could catch him in the points and he had to win while Norm Nelson had to not finish the race.
11.
Norm Nelson was using a special mountain gear in his Oldsmobile; he pointed out that the part could be found in a parts catalog.
12.
Norm Nelson won the following race, at Milwaukee, and the points he lost would have made him the 1951 champion, which instead was won by Rodger Ward.
13.
Norm Nelson joined up with Carl Kiekhaefer's Chrysler team in 1955.
14.
Norm Nelson won a 1955 stock car race at the Milwaukee Mile and blew his right front tire right after winning the race causing the car to skid into the walls.
15.
Norm Nelson's crew had done their pit stop in 1 minute and second-place finisher Marshall Teague had a 1-minute and 40 seconds stop.
16.
Norm Nelson raced at Wilmot Speedway in Kenosha in 1959 and won the track's modified stock class.
17.
Norm Nelson returned to driving at the national level, and finished third in 1958 and 1959.
18.
Norm Nelson won a race at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack and had several second-place finishes during his 1960 championship season.
19.
Norm Nelson began his 25th season of racing in 1965 by winning the season-opening USAC Stock Car race at Milwaukee over Paul Goldsmith.
20.
Norm Nelson took the lead away from Parnelli Jones when his engine blew up late in the race.
21.
Norm Nelson won the Yankee 300 race at Indianapolis Raceway Park in 1965 which contributed toward him winning his second driver's championship that season.
22.
Norm Nelson won the 150-mile event at Langhorne Speedway in 1966 and he won his third season championship.
23.
Norm Nelson won his second straight Yankee 300 at IRP.
24.
Norm Nelson made his first start at the 1955 LeHi 300 in LeHi, Arkansas, and won his only NASCAR race later that season after starting on the pole position at the only NASCAR race held at the 1-mile dirt Las Vegas Park Speedway.
25.
Norm Nelson competed in three more NASCAR races, once each in 1966,1967 at Riverside, and 1968.
26.
Norm Nelson hired Roger McCluskey to drive for him in 1968, starting a two-car operation as Nelson began to wind down his career.
27.
In 1975, McCluskey had to miss a race because he had a burned foot; Norm Nelson drove the car for him.
28.
Norm Nelson's cars started in 13 NASCAR; nine of these races ended in a Top 10 finish; five with a Top 5.
29.
Norm Nelson was known for saving his equipment until the latter stages of a race.
30.
Norm Nelson died on November 8,1988, while at the Zablocki Veterans Administration Center at age 65 and he was buried at the Graceland Cemetery in Racine.
31.
Norm Nelson has been inducted into the following halls of fame:.