Buddy Arrington Information & Buddy Arrington Links at HealthHaven.com

Buddy Arrington
Born	July 26, 1938 (age 71)
Hometown	Martinsville, Virginia
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series statistics
	560 races run over 25 years
Best cup position	9th - 1982 (Winston Cup)
First race	1966 Speedway Park (Jacksonville, Florida)
Last race	1988 Firecracker 400 (Daytona)

1983 racecar

Buddy Arrington (born July 26, 1938 in Martinsville, Virginia) is a retired NASCAR Grand National/Winston Cup (now Sprint Cup Series) driver.

[edit] Biography

He has the second most starts without a win, and managed to finished in the top 10 of NASCAR points twice; in 1979 (ninth) and 1982 (seventh). He was known as a Mopar (Chrysler vehicles) loyalist till the end.[1] His best career finish was third at Talledega in 1979, one lap up of Richard Petty (ironically driving one of Petty's cast-off Dodge Magnums) and several other top NASCAR drivers. He almost always ran his own car. Buddy's operation was a very money conscious effort. His pit crew were almost always unpaid volunteers, and relied on used equipment; at first Richard Petty/Harry Hyde Dodge Magnums (which Buddy later re-skinned and re-wheelbased to Dodge Miradas and Chrysler Imperial/Cordobas) and later ex-Bill Elliott Fords.

Buddy's two Chrysler Imperials were the last Chrysler products to run in the NASCAR Winston Cup series. [2] He ran the car at first in two races in the 1981 season, and in more races (alternating with Dodge Miradas) up until April 1985, when at that point the parts supply, even used, for Chrysler products (Chrysler factory support ended in late 1978) dried up. He sold one of the Imperials (purchased from Cecil Gordon in 1984) to Phil Goode in April 85, and his other Imperial was given to the NASCAR Hall of Fame at Talledega, AL. Buddy was always a much liked man on the NASCAR circuit, and other teams and a small, but loyal fan club pitched in to help keep him racing. In 1985 the generosity of rising NASCAR star driver Bill Elliott (who sold Buddy his slightly used Ford Thunderbird race cars on the cheap) kept Buddy driving until 1988. Buddy's son Joey (who at a the young age of 17 served on Buddy's pit crew), now runs Arrington Manufacturing in Martinsville VA. The company builds racing engines (mostly Dodges) for the Craftsman Truck Series, and test engines for Nextel Cup Busch series cars.

Tragedy struck Arrington's team in 1986. Rick Baldwin substituted for Arrington, who had been injured the previous week at Pocono International Raceway, for the Miller 400 at the Michigan International Speedway. During his qualifying run, Baldwin spun in turn 1 and pancaked the wall with the drivers side of the car, and his head struck the wall. Baldwin remained in a coma for over 11 years, succumbing to his brain injuries in 1997.

[edit] External links