Paul Goldsmith and Linda Vaughn Welcome NASCAR's Oldest Racecar to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America

Paul Goldsmith, 94, is the only man to win on the Daytona Beach Road Course in both cars and on a motorcycle. Smokey Yunick once called him 'the best pure racer I ever saw.' Harley-Davidson founders John Harley and Walter Davidson personally asked him to become a rider for their factory team, a decision that led to victory at the 1953 DAYTONA 200.

On August 20, 2020 Paul Goldsmith flew from Indiana to Daytona Beach to be reunited with the 1949 Oldsmobile that he and other racing legends drove at the dawn of NASCAR. Widely believed to be the oldest remaining original NASCAR racer, the Olds was presented for permanent exhibit at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum on the grounds of Daytona International Speedway.

Many consider the 1949 Oldsmobile, referred to as the 'Roarin' Relic,' to be the oldest surviving NASCAR racecar. Originally built by Bobby Griffin's Griffin Motors of Florence, SC, the '49 Olds survived more than a decade of top-level stock car competition at the hands of some of the sport's most famous drivers. Two-time NASCAR champion Lee Petty, two-time NASCAR champion Buck Baker, Darel Dieringer, Bill Blair and Gene Darrah all sat in the driver's seat. Buck Baker put it on pole for the 1951 Modified Sportmans race on the Daytona Beach Course at 100.139 MPH and led the first 12 laps before being sidelined with a fuel pump issue.

The Relic was the first car enshrined in the Joe Weatherly Stock Car Racing Museum at Darlington Raceway upon its opening in 1965 and was a featured guest at the 2009 Goodwood Festival of Speed.

'It's an honor to help deliver the Roarin' Relic to the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum at Daytona International Speedway,' said Goldsmith. 'The car and I go a long way back. It will give people a chance to see what it was really like for us in NASCAR's earliest years.'

In an exciting conclusion of the day's events, racer and NASCAR Vice President of Racing Development Ben Kennedy took the 'Roarin' Relic' out on Daytona International Speedway for demonstration laps.

Be sure to visit the 1949 Oldsmobile and other great racing machines and artifacts at the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Museum located at the Daytona International Speedway .

Photo credit: Amelia Island Concours / Bill Warner
posted on conceptcarz.com

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