Jimmy Hensley

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Jimmy Hensley
Jimmy Hensley 1996.jpg
Born (1945-10-11) October 11, 1945 (age 78)
Ridgeway, Virginia
Awards 1985, 1987 Busch Series Most Popular Driver
1992 Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
1996 Craftsman Truck Series Most Popular Driver
NASCAR Cup Series career
98 races run over 18 years
Best finish 28th (1992)
First race 1972 Virginia 500 (Martinsville)
Last race 1995 UAW-GM Quality 500 (Charlotte)
Wins Top tens Poles
0 15 1
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
255 races run over 14 years
Best finish 2nd (1985, 1987, 1990)
First race 1982 Dogwood 500 (Martinsville)
Last race 1995 Detroit Gasket 200 (Michigan)
First win 1985 Mountain Dew 400 (Hickory)
Last win 1991 Texas Pete 300 (Rougemont)
Wins Top tens Poles
9 129 15
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series career
146 races run over 7 years
Best finish 6th (1998)
First race 1995 Pizza Plus 150 (Bristol)
Last race 2001 Auto Club 200 (Fontana)
First win 1998 Federated Auto Parts 250 (Nashville)
Last win 1999 NAPA 250 (Martinsville)
Wins Top tens Poles
2 64 4
Statistics current as of March 6, 2012.

Jimmy Hensley (born October 11, 1945) is a former NASCAR driver. With a career spanning 27 seasons in all three of NASCAR's elite divisions, Hensley may be best remembered for his Rookie of the Year award won in 1992, his 15th season in the series, and for his nine career Busch Series wins. He spent most of his career working as an oil truck driver in addition to racing.[1] He was best known as being a substitute driver for many teams.

Early career

Hensley's NASCAR career began in 1972, driving for famous owner Junie Donlavey in the #90 Ford. Both of his starts that season came at Martinsville Speedway, the track being just ten miles from Hensley's hometown of Ridgeway, VA. Though an engine failure in his first start relegated Hensley to a 33rd place finish, he completed all but seven laps of the fall event, the Old Dominion 500, to finish fifth. This would end up being Hensley's best finish in his 98 career Winston Cup Series races.

Hensley competed again for Donlavey in the 1973 and 1974 Virginia 500 events, coming home in seventh and sixth places, respectively. For the 1974 Old Dominion 500, Hensley drove the #02 Chevrolet owned by Russell Large, finishing 19th. Beginning in 1975, Hensley drove the #63 Chevrolet for part-time owner Billy Moyer, competing in both Martinsville races each year until 1977 and registering a top ten each season. It would be last Cup race for several years.

Return to the series

In 1981, Hensley returned to the Winston Cup Series, driving in the fall Martinsville event for Cecil Gordon in the #24 Buick and bringing home a seventh place result. Hensley raced in three events the next year—both Martinsville races, along with the September event at Richmond, in D. K. Ulrich's #40 Buick. That same year, Hensley also competed in the inaugural Busch Series season, competing in 11 events and recording four top five finishes. Hensley spent the 1983 season out of Cup and in the Busch Series, where in 29 starts, he registered 16 top ten finishes.

Busch Series

For the next eight seasons, Hensley competed on-and-off in the Winston Cup Series and raced full-time in the Busch ranks. Behind the wheel of the #00 Oldsmobile in 1985, Hensley came home second in points, just 29 points behind champion Jack Ingram, after a season with three wins at Hickory, South Boston, and IRP. Hensley again finished second in points in 1987 driving the #5 Advance Auto Parts Buick for Sam Ard, starting and finishing first in the season finale at Martinsville for his only win of the season. Just four races later, Hensley won again at Martinsville in the 1988 Miller Classic.

In 1989, Hensley drove 18 races in six different cars, recording a pole at Hickory in the #70 Dirt Devil Pontiac but finishing no better than sixth. In addition, he won his only career Winston Cup pole at Martinsville Speedway, filling in for Dale Earnhardt, who was unable to make it to the track at that time due to the effects of Hurricane Hugo. Earnhardt would drive the car at the race.[2] Hensley returned to victory lane the next season driving the #25 Crown Petroleum/Fast Fare Oldsmobile for Dick Moroso, winning at Nazareth Speedway; he followed that up in 1991 with a career-high three victories, winning at Martinsville, Hickory, and Rougemont.

Return to the Cup Series

Hensley started the 1992 with the #25 Beverly Racing team, but they were unable to locate permanent sponsorship. They parted ways and Hensley moved to the Cup Series, driving the #66 TropArtic Ford Thunderbird for Cale Yarborough. Hensley ran in 22 races with four top-ten finishes with the group, and won Rookie of the Year honors at the age of 47, due to the other competitors that season running part-time schedules.

He began 1993 in the #52 NAPA/Hurley Limo Ford for Jimmy Means, running the first three races of the year. He then spent most of the season driving the #7 car in place of the deceased Alan Kulwicki per Kulwicki's will. After the team was bought by Geoff Bodine, he drove one race for Richard Petty before closing the season in the #4 Eastman Kodak/Morgan-McClure Motorsports Chevrolet.

Craftsman Truck Series participation

Beginning in 1995, Hensley began to compete in the newly formed Craftsman Truck Series, driving in his first two seasons for owner Grier Lackey. His first full season was in the #30 Mopar Performance Dodge Ram in 1996, where he had five top-fives and a pole position. In 1997, however, Hensley joined Petty Enterprises, piloting the #43 Cummins Dodge in the next three seasons. At age 52 in 1998, Hensley found victory lane at Nashville and finished sixth in the final points standings. The next year, he finished first at Martinsville, recording what would be the last win of his career. That year, he made his final run in the Busch Series, filling in for Wayne Grubb.

He was replaced at Petty, and signed with the #16 Team Rensi Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado group. With sponsorship coming from Lance Snacks, Mobile Max2, and eLink, he had eight top-ten finishes and finished thirteenth in points. He began 2001 without a ride, but ran a majority of the year filling in for Randy MacDonald in the #72 truck. Hensley retired after that season, and now works installing fire-service systems.[3]

Career results

* Season still in progress
1 Ineligible for series points

NASCAR

Winston Cup Series

#- Won pole position substituting for Dale Earnhardt, but Earnhardt ran the race.

Year Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Avg. Start Avg. Finish Winnings Position Team(s)
1972 2 0 1 1 0 9.5 19.0 $1,900 99th #90 Donlavey Racing
1973 1 0 0 1 0 15.0 7.0 $1,550 103rd #90 Donlavey Racing
1974 2 0 0 1 0 4.5 12.5 $2,260 83rd #90 Donlavey Racing
#02 Russell Large Racing
1975 2 0 0 1 0 11.5 17.0 $1,860 98th #63 Moyer Racing
1976 2 0 0 1 0 12.0 16.0 $2,150 68th #63 Moyer Racing
1977 2 0 0 1 0 12.5 14.0 $2,680 61st #63 Moyer Racing
1981 1 0 0 1 0 24.0 7.0 $4,650 107th #24 Gordon Racing
1982 3 0 0 1 0 24.0 20.3 $3,205 109th #40 Ulrich Racing
1984 4 0 0 0 0 25.8 21.5 $12,895 96th #64 Langley Racing
1986 3 0 0 0 0 20.3 19.0 $11,755 54th #64 Langley Racing
1988 1 0 0 0 0 10.0 24.0 $4,245 94th #67 Arrington Racing
1989 0# 0 0 0 1 1.0 0.0 $0 N/A #3 Richard Childress Racing
1990 2 0 0 0 0 23.0 32.0 $17,475 88th #20 Moroso Racing
1991 4 0 0 1 0 24.8 13.8 $32,125 41st #24 Team III Racing
1992 22 0 0 4 0 17.4 18.2 $247,660 28th #66 Cale Yarborough Motorsports
1993 21 0 0 2 0 19.1 22.8 $368,150 32nd #52 Means Racing
#7 Alan Kulwicki Racing
#44 Petty Enterprises
#4Morgan-McClure Motorsports
1994 17 0 0 0 0 26.1 27.3 $203,520 41st #55 RaDiUs Motorsports
#20 Moroso Racing
#44 Charles Hardy Racing
1995 9 0 0 0 0 29.4 33.7 $161,025 44th #32 Active Motorsports
#22 Bill Davis Racing
#31 A.G. Dillard Motorsports

Busch Series

Year Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Avg. Start Avg. Finish Winnings Position Team(s)
1982 11 0 4 7 0 12.0 9.8 $8,905 14th #63 HVP Motorsports
1983 29 0 5 16 0 13.8 12.6 $26,306 8th #63/#55/#39 HVP Motorsports
#29 Arrington Racing
#7 Whitaker Racing
1984 7 0 1 3 0 20.3 17.7 $12,275 34th #50 Cox Racing
#90 Mark Gibson Racing
#7 Whitaker Racing
#48 Brevak Racing
#88 Hedgecock Racing
1985 27 3 15 23 4 5.5 6.4 $115,964 2nd #00 Thomas Brothers Racing
1986 31 0 3 9 0 14.4 12.7 $95,148 8th #63 HVP Motorsports
1987 27 1 8 14 2 10.1 11.7 $94,504 2nd #5 Sam Ard Racing
1988 30 1 7 13 0 12.0 12.9 $125,615 6th #5 Sam Ard Racing
1989 18 0 0 2 1 17.8 21.4 $29,923 22nd #62 Linville Racing
#27 Ryder Racing
#89 Satterfield Racing
#58 Southern Maryland Motorsports
#70 Huffman Racing
#55 Beverley Racing
1990 31 1 9 17 4 8.2 10.6 $201,877 2nd #25/#28 Moroso Racing
#75 Henderson Motorsports
1991 31 3 9 17 4 8.6 13.8 $227,969 5th #25/#5 Beverley Racing
1992 8 0 1 6 0 16.2 10.4 $40,592 39th #25 Beverley Racing
1993 2 0 1 1 0 16.5 23.0 $5,093 69th #4 Morgan-McClure Motorsports
#75 Henderson Motorsports
1994 2 0 0 1 0 25.5 19.0 $10,435 70th #20 Moroso Racing
#35 Laughlin Racing
1995 1 0 0 0 0 42.0 35.0 $3,285 105th #35 Laughlin Racing

Craftsman Truck Series

Year Starts Wins Top 5 Top 10 Poles Avg. Start Avg. Finish Winnings Position Team(s)
1995 3 0 0 0 0 14.0 24.3 $5,675 55th #30 Grandaddy Racing
1996 24 0 5 14 1 8.5 13.3 $228,936 8th #30 Grandaddy Racing
1997 26 0 4 13 2 13.6 11.9 $312,820 8th #43 Petty Enterprises
1998 27 1 9 15 0 16.9 11.8 $430,328 6th #43 Petty Enterprises
1999 25 1 7 14 1 10.8 12.2 $332,170 10th #43 Petty Enterprises
2000 24 0 2 8 0 17.2 14.2 $317,936 13th #16 Team Rensi Motorsports
2001 17 0 0 0 0 18.5 20.0 $178,006 20th #72 MacDonald Motorsports

References

  1. http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Pole_position_Former_NASCAR_driver_Jimmy_Hensley_remembers_the_day_he_put_Dale_Earnhardts_car_on_the_front_row_at_Martinsville_.html
  2. http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Pole_position_Former_NASCAR_driver_Jimmy_Hensley_remembers_the_day_he_put_Dale_Earnhardts_car_on_the_front_row_at_Martinsville_.html
  3. http://www.scenedaily.com/news/articles/sprintcupseries/Pole_position_Former_NASCAR_driver_Jimmy_Hensley_remembers_the_day_he_put_Dale_Earnhardts_car_on_the_front_row_at_Martinsville_.html

External links

Preceded by NASCAR Winston Cup Series Rookie of the Year
1992
Succeeded by
Jeff Gordon