Earl Ross

Earl Ross (September 4, 1941 – September 18, 2014) was a Canadian race car driver. He competed in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series from 1973 until 1976. He won the 15th Daytona 500 race in 1974. The same year, he became the NASCAR Rookie of the Year. He drove the Carling Red Cap #52.

Ross was born in Fortune, Prince Edward Island. He was raised in Ailsa Craig, Ontario.

Ross died on September 18, 2014 in North Middlesex, Ontario, aged 73.

Biography
Earl Ross made his debut in the NASCAR Winston Cup Series (then the name of NASCAR's main championship) in 1973 on the Daytona 500. Having played only a few races throughout this first season in NASCAR, he retained his status as "rookie" (beginner) and thanks to his eighth final place in the championship, in 1974 won the honorary title of "rookie of the year".

His season was notably punctuated by a historic victory over the oval of Martinsville (during the "Old Dominion 500"), which made him the very first foreign driver to win in the category. queen of NASCAR. It was not until the Sonoma road round in June 2007 to see another foreign driver (in this case the Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya) repeat such a performance.

This great season of Earl Ross will remain without a future since after rare appearances in 1975 and 1976, he left NASCAR. He continued to drive until the end of the 1990s, notably in CASCAR (Canadian variant of NASCAR).

NASCAR
(key) ( Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led. )

Other websites

 * Earl Ross at Racing-Reference