Ned Jarrett’s Hall of Fame NASCAR Career Started with a Bad Check

NASCAR Hall of Famer Ned Jarrett, known as “Gentleman Ned” for his calm demeanor and sportsmanship, passed away last week at the age of 93. His illustrious career as a driver and broadcaster nearly didn’t happen due to his unconventional start: purchasing his first competitive car for the Grand National Series with a bad check. Jarrett, who grew up on a farm in North Carolina, developed a passion for dirt track racing and entered his first race at Hickory Motor Speedway in 1952. Initially, his father disapproved, concerned about the perception of racing and its ties to bootlegging. Jarrett even agreed to stop racing, but a few weeks later, a partner’s illness led him back to the track.

He filled in for his ill partner in a 1939 Ford coupe they co-owned and finished second. This success, and the eventual reconciliation with his father, paved the way for Jarrett to become Hickory’s track champion in 1955, breaking Ralph Earnhardt’s streak. He went on to win the 1957 and 1958 NASCAR Sportsman Division titles. However, to truly compete in the Grand National Series (now the Cup Series), Jarrett felt he needed better equipment. In 1959, he found a winning 1957 Ford previously driven by Junior Johnson.

Lacking the full $2,000 purchase price, Jarrett wrote a check, planning to win two races over a single weekend – a 108-mile event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and a 100-mile race in Charlotte, North Carolina. The combined prize money of $1,900 would allow him to cover the difference before the seller cashed the check. The gamble paid off; Jarrett secured the first two wins of his Grand National career, enabling him to become a full-time driver in 1960. Jarrett’s rise was meteoric. He clinched his first Grand National championship in 1961, winning a single race and maintaining an average finish of eighth across the 52-race season.

He secured his second championship in 1965 but retired mid-season at age 34 due to a severe back injury and Ford’s temporary withdrawal from stock car racing. He remains the only Cup Series driver to retire as the reigning champion. Jarrett returned to the sport in 1978 as a radio broadcaster for MRN and later became a well-known television commentator for CBS in the 1980s and ’90s, forming an iconic duo with Ken Squier. From the broadcast booth, he also witnessed his son, Dale Jarrett, win the Cup Series championship in 1999. Both father and son were inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, Ned in 2011 and Dale in 2014.

Jarrett’s story serves as a reminder of NASCAR’s outlaw roots, a spirit embodied by drivers like him.