52 Facts About Tim Richmond

1.

Timothy Lee Richmond was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio.

2.

Tim Richmond competed in IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series.

3.

Tim Richmond won the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award and had 13 victories during eight NASCAR seasons.

4.

Tim Richmond won seven races that season, more than any other driver on the tour.

5.

Tim Richmond attempted a comeback in 1988 before NASCAR banned him for testing positive for excessive over-the-counter drugs, ibuprofen and pseudoephedrine; NASCAR later announced they gave Richmond a new test and tested negative.

6.

Tim Richmond filed a lawsuit against NASCAR after NASCAR insisted they wanted access to his entire medical record before they would reinstate him.

7.

Tim Richmond grew up in a wealthy family and lived a freewheeling lifestyle, earning him the nickname "Hollywood".

8.

Tim Richmond's driving days started as a toddler when he was given a go-kart that he often drove inside buildings and across his lawn.

9.

Tim Richmond later raced the kart at tracks in Moreland and New Pittsburg.

10.

When Tim Richmond reached age 16, his parents purchased him a Pontiac Trans Am, a speedboat and a Piper Cherokee airplane for his birthday.

11.

Tim Richmond excelled in sports; he set a conference record in high hurdles and his high school football career was stellar enough that the academy retired his sports jersey after his gridiron days were over.

12.

In 1976,21-year-old Tim Richmond took the car onto Lakeville Speedway at Lakeville, Ohio for some practice laps.

13.

Tim Richmond passed several cars before spinning out and breaking an axle.

14.

The next season, Al Tim Richmond bought a SuperModified better suited to his son's driving style.

15.

In 1977 Tim Richmond became both Sandusky Speedway's Rookie of the Year and the SuperModified class track champion.

16.

Tim Richmond returned to racing sprint cars in the United States Automobile Club's national sprint car tour in 1978.

17.

Tim Richmond raced in a 1978 Mini Indy car event at Phoenix International Raceway, winning the Formula Super Vee support event in a Lola T620.

18.

Tim Richmond's father bought an Eagle Indy Car chassis and an Offenhauser engine for the 1979 race at Michigan International Speedway.

19.

Also in 1979, Tim Richmond tested Kenny Reece's unusual "3-to-1" Supermodified at a 7.5-mile high-speed oval test track in Ohio.

20.

Tim Richmond was able to lap the test track at over 200 MPH, but found doing so in a car with no left front wheel slightly unnerving.

21.

Tim Richmond worked his way up to the top 10 during the race, led a lap, and finished ninth as he ran out of fuel at the end of the race.

22.

Tim Richmond was named the 1980 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

23.

Pocono Raceway President Joseph Mattioli III convinced Tim Richmond to make the change to stock car racing on the NASCAR circuit.

24.

Tim Richmond made his first NASCAR start two months after winning the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award.

25.

Tim Richmond started the season by competing in 15 events for Ulrich.

26.

Tim Richmond had his first career top 10 finish, taking tenth place at Bristol Motor Speedway, soon followed by a sixth at Talladega and a seventh-place finish at Texas World Speedway.

27.

Tim Richmond started 1982 without a ride before getting a one-race deal to drive for Mike Lovern's Fast Company Limited, Billie Harvey, at the Rockingham track.

28.

The tour returned to Riverside for the final race of the season where Tim Richmond won his second race, sweeping both events at the track.

29.

Benny Parsons said that "watching Tim Richmond go through the Esses was unbelievable".

30.

In 1983, Tim Richmond began racing for Raymond Beadle whom he had known before he started racing.

31.

Tim Richmond returned to the three-cornered Pocono racetrack, earning his first oval victory.

32.

Tim Richmond made his first appearance in a NASCAR Busch Series car, but did not finish any of the three races he entered that season.

33.

Tim Richmond finished the 1984 season 12th in points, with 11 finishes in the top 10 and in six in the top 5.

34.

In 1985, the final season that Tim Richmond competed for Beadle, his best finish was a second-place run at Bristol.

35.

Tim Richmond ended the season 11th in points with 13 Top 10s in 28 races.

36.

Tim Richmond joined Hendrick Motorsports in 1986, where he teamed up with veteran crew chief Harry Hyde.

37.

Tim Richmond had suffered a 64-race winless streak that was finally broken at the Van Scoy Diamond Mine 500 at Pocono in June 1986.

38.

Hyde worried that Tim Richmond had stopped a lap too early to ensure that he would have enough fuel to make it to the end.

39.

The remaining laps of the race where completed slowly under caution and Tim Richmond took the checkered flag for the victory.

40.

Tim Richmond had led 97 laps, including the final 30, taking his first victory in a Rick Hendrick car.

41.

The tour returned to Pocono a month later, and Tim Richmond battled for another victory in a fog-shortened event.

42.

Tim Richmond crossed the finish line beside Rudd, winning the race by 0.05 seconds.

43.

Tim Richmond notched four more victories that season, and over a span of twelve races, Richmond earned three second-place finishes, and six wins.

44.

The National Motorsports Press Association named him Co-Driver of the Year with Earnhardt after Tim Richmond accumulated 13 top 5 finishes and 16 in the top 10.

45.

Tim Richmond had a career-best third-place finish in points after winning seven events in 1986, in what was his last full NASCAR season.

46.

Tim Richmond fell ill the day after the 1986 NASCAR annual banquet during a promotional trip to New York City.

47.

Tim Richmond was not well enough to begin the 1987 NASCAR season despite lengthy hospitalization in Cleveland and further rest at home; when Richmond missed the Daytona 500, his condition was reported as double pneumonia.

48.

Tim Richmond returned to Pocono for the Miller High Life 500 during the middle of the year.

49.

At the time, Punch stated that Richmond had been hospitalized due to a motorcycle accident, though it is unlikely that Richmond had the strength to ride a motorcycle during his last months.

50.

Tim Richmond was a celebrity with a lot of charisma, a handsome guy.

51.

Baskin stated that NASCAR had targeted Tim Richmond, requesting that Tennant establish a substance-abuse policy with Tim Richmond in mind.

52.

Tim Richmond was inducted into the International Motorsports Hall of Fame in 2002.